


You Are (Not) Alone

by snotboy



Category: Brown-Eyed Girls (Band), LOONA (Korea Band), NCT (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Amputation, Beating to Death, Body Horror, Bombs, Child Death, Dismemberment, Eye Trauma, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Guns, Hate Crimes, Head Injury, Head Stomp, Homophobia, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mentioned Cannibalism, Minor Character Death, Moral Ambiguity, Muteness, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Nonbinary Character, Panic Attacks, Parent Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Bae Joohyun, Protective Lee Donghyuck, Psychological Torture, Rebellion, Sexual Harassment, Starvation, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Torture, Transgender, Transphobia, Vomiting, mentioned police violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:35:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26582998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snotboy/pseuds/snotboy
Summary: “What you did out there was very brave Joohyun. I promise, we’re going to do whatever we can to get you home.”“Why?” Joohyun said as she felt a spark of anger inside her chest, “What’s the point in getting me home? Even if I do get home, the Capitol could still just show up and kill me whenever they want. They’ve made this Quarter Quell specifically to show us that. Even if I do make it home I’m never going to be safe. Not under the Capitol at least.” Yeojin blinked. “You of all people should know that.”A moment of silence fell over the room as Yeojin cocked her head to the side. Her eyes scanned Joohyun up and down before she eventually nodded to herself.“You’re right.” She said quietly, “I do know that. But it doesn’t mean I have to lie down and die. Even if there isn’t really any hope for the future…” Yeojin took a deep breath, almost as if she was steeling herself, “If there’s already no hope then… we don’t have anything to lose then do we? Might as well go down trying. Yeah?” Joohyun was stunned. When she glanced over Donghyuck was nodding along, a fire in his eyes that she had never seen before. Suddenly she felt like she was in way over her head.
Relationships: Bae Joohyun & Lee Donghyuck, Bae Joohyun | Irene/Kim Yerim | Yeri, Jo Haseul/Viian Wong | ViVi, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 23
Kudos: 30





	1. Bon Voyage

**Author's Note:**

> hey so I'm gonna be adding chapter specific content warning in the author notes of each chapter cause I realize there's a fuckton of tags and I figure it'll help everyone stay safe. I also might be adding tags as we go along, but whenever I do that I'll mention it here. For this chapter just keep in mind:  
> -panic attacks  
> -canon typical mentions of violence

“In the charter for the Hunger Games it was written that every 25th year, to keep the memory of betrayal and treason fresh in our minds and in our hearts we celebrate the Hunger Games anew. In the 25th Hunger Games citizens of the Districts were able to vote for their tributes. In the 50th Hunger Games double the amount of tributes were offered up to the Hunger Games. In the 75th Games the tributes were selected from the pool of previous victors. Now, as we celebrate the 100th annual Hunger Games it has been decided that, we as people of Panem must remind ourselves that even the strongest or the luckiest perhaps of us can not survive without the generosity and rule of the Capitol. We must all depend on the Capitol, and we must all remember that without the strength and benevolence of the Capitol we are all lost. So, in that spirit we will be drawing this years tributes from a pool of all District citizens aged 18-35.”

Joohyun’s heart stopped. There was a crash from a work bench behind her. No one made any sound as the President continued on, but Joohyun didn’t hear a word. All she could hear was her own blood rushing in her ears. 

“No!” Seo Jisoo, the girl that shared Joohyun’s workbench screeched, “There’s no fucking way! We make it through six years- six years of torture wondering if we’re about to be killed and now they try to kill us again?”

“Jisoo…” Joohyun reached out a hand, whether to comfort or to placate she didn’t know, but Jisoo slapped it away. 

“There’s no way in fucking hell. There’s no fucking way.” Jisoo dropped to the floor, both of her hands over her ears. “I can’t…” Looking around Joohyun saw the rest of the room in a similar state of shock. Every single person in the room, Joohyun included, was back on the line.

Suddenly Joohyun was filled with a state of dread she hadn’t felt in years. Without a word she slowly lowered herself to the floor next to Jisoo and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Jisoo shook in her arms. They sat there together, in silence, as the reality of the situation washed over them all.

\- 

The next day they gathered in front of the Justice building. It felt like a dream. Joohyun’s body moved almost completely independent of her mind. She followed the path she knew she would never forget. All the times before she had been so terrified. Her hands always shook whenever the Peacekeepers pushed them into line, but this time they didn’t. It was as if something in her was broken. She didn’t understand before that exact moment that she would never be safe. The Capitol had control. 

When Joohyun was thirteen she had been reaped, but an older girl in the District volunteered for her. Im Yoona. Yoona thought she had a chance of winning. She was the smartest kid in District 3. She thought she could outwit all of the other tributes. She died in the Cornucopia bloodbath. Ever since then Joohyun had lived in fear. That could be her one day. She thought she was safe once she turned nineteen but… now she knew she would never be safe. There was no such thing as being safe.

There was a stage set up in front of City Hall, with rows of Peacekeepers standing along the back of it. The previous victors of District 3 stood just in front of them. Jung Taekwoon, the only male victor, stood with his hands shaking. Meanwhile Kim Taeyeon and Im Yeojin stood opposite him. Taeyeon’s face was obscured by her hair as she stared straight down at her feet, but Yeojin had her head held high. She was the youngest victor to ever win the games. She was reaped at twelve and when no one volunteered for her she was sent to the Capitol. They gave her a ranking of 3 out of 12 when she got there. 

Once Yeojin was in the arena she managed to dig up the bombs surrounding where the tributes were sent up to the Cornucopia and use them to her advantage. It was also one of the shortest Hunger Games there had been in a long while.

Once everyone was gathered the ceremony was able to start. Lee Mijoo strutted out onto the stage, the diamonds and circuitry embedded into her skin glimmered in the sunlight.

“Welcome! Welcome everybody it is so lovely to see your faces once again.” She grinned as she stepped up to the microphone. Joohyun shuddered. It had been so long since she had to stand through this torture. “Now, the time has come for us to select one courageous young- or, in this case not so young I suppose.” Mijoo giggled, “But one courageous man and woman for the honor of representing District 3 in the 100th annual Hunger Games. Isn’t that exciting!” Some of the circuitry in Mijoo’s skin shifted in color the more excited she got. It made Joohyun feel sick. “Well, as the ladies got the honor last year we will select from the pool of men first.” She said as she stepped toward a large bowl on her left side. Taekwoon flinched away when she inadvertently came near him.

Mijoo’s jeweled fingernails reflected inside the bowl as she twirled her hand, as if trying to find the right name that should be called. It made Joohyun’s stomach turn. Finally, after a long minute of oppressive silence Mijoo seemed to settle on a slip of paper to choose. She pulled it out of the bowl slowly and opened the scrap of paper with practiced finesse. 

“The male tribute this year will be,” She paused for effect, “Boo Seung-”

“I volunteer as tribute!” The words couldn’t even finish leaving Mijoo’s mouth before a young looking boy made his way to the center aisle, with his hand raised in the air.

“Well, it looks as though we have a volunteer!” Mijoo clapped her hands without missing a beat and tossed the piece of paper aside. “Come on up my dear!” She called as four Peacekeepers surrounded him on all sides to escort him up onto the stage. Taeyeon and Taekwoon didn’t look up as the boy made his way onto the stage, but Yeojin offered him a small smile. “Come dear, tell us your name!” Mijoo said as she rested a hand on his back to guide him to the microphone.

“My name is Lee Donghyuck.” The boy said with his head held high. Joohyun recognized the name. He was young. Arguably barely even old enough for this particular reaping. But otherwise he had largely flown under the radar of their District. Mijoo was absolutely delighted though as she awkwardly shooed Donghyuck away and moved to the other side of the stage.

“Now, for the girls,” She grinned as her hand once again circled above a small pile of paper scraps inside the glass bowl. Joohyun felt bile rising up in her throat. She was tempted to squeeze her eyes shut until it was over, but it occurred to her that the Peacekeepers might see that as a sign of rebellion so she kept her eyes glued to Mijoo as she pulled a slip of paper from the bowl. “The female tribute this year will be… Seo Jisoo!”

There was a long beat of silence.

No one moved a muscle before suddenly a piercing shriek rang out just in front of Joohyun. There was Jisoo, curled into a ball on the ground. Her body was wracked with sobs as the Peacekeepers moved in quickly to pick her up, by her arms. Just as they began to drag her up towards the stage another girl stepped in their path.

“Wait!” She called, her outstretched hand shaking as she tried to stop the Peacekeepers from moving farther forward. It was Park Gowon. A sweet girl, usually in the higher positions within the District. She worked in military tech if Joohyun remembered correctly. She was regarded as one of the smartest girls in the Academy, but always frail.

“My dear, are you volunteering?” Mijoo suggested with barely concealed excitement.

“I-I…” Gowon glanced from Mijoo to the Peacekeepers before finally her eyes landed on poor Seo Jisoo who was now staring directly at her, pleading.

“Please… please I don’t want to die.” Jisoo mumbled, “Please help me, please…” One of the Peacekeepers roughly hit the back of her head and her murmurings quieted.

“I’m sorry…” Gowon said so quietly it could barely be heard before she stepped back into the crowd. 

“No…” Jisoo whined. The sound was so broken that it made Joohyun sick. Her limbs felt like metal as she pushed forward to take Gowon’s place.

“I volunteer.” Joohyun said quietly, staring at the ground as she willed herself not to be sick.

“What was that dear?” Mijoo’s voice sounded through the microphone.

“I said I volunteer.” Joohyun said a little louder and began her trek up towards the stage. The Peacekeepers dropped Jisoo where she was and moved behind Joohyun to follow her up onto the stage. Joohyun couldn’t bring herself to look up from the ground, even as she felt Mijoo’s cold hands on the small of her back guiding her to the microphone.

“Well this is so wonderful! Two volunteers! Tell us your name dear,” Mijoo said excitedly.

“Bae Joohyun.” She said quietly but the microphone blasted her voice through the entire arena. Her hands shook violently as she moved away from center stage for Mijoo to finish the ceremony.

God what had she just done.


	2. Warm Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you know anything about being nature?” Taekwoon asked without once looking up from his knees.
> 
> “Sort of.” Donghyuck shrugged.
> 
> “Nature…” Taekwoon swallowed, “It’s brutal. The Arena wants you dead more than the other tributes do.” Something in his tone of voice made Joohyun shiver.
> 
> “We’ll take that to heart.” She said quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning this chapter for: mentioned starvation, minor character death, borderline suicidal thoughts (brief)

Joohyun and Donghyuck were hauled onto the train immediately after the Reaping. The inside of the train was beautiful, covered in golden accents and plating. There were heaping piles of food in the dining cart that Donghyuck immediately took to, but Joohyun couldn’t find it in herself to eat a single bite. Instead she kept moving through the train until she found an empty car with nothing but a couple of couches and immediately curled up under one of the throw blankets there. 

It was the dead of summer and yet she had never felt so cold in her life. All she could do was sit in place and watch through the windows as the train pulled out of the station and they headed straight for the Capitol, where she would inevitably die. Suddenly the door to the car opened and started Joohyun out of her thoughts.

“Hey!” It was Donghyuck, “I’ve been looking for you.” He said as he unceremoniously plopped down next to her. He paused for a moment before leaning over to adjust the blanket so it covered her body more fully. “That was really brave you know.” He said after a beat of silence.

“You volunteered too.” She mumbled as she hunkered down in her blanket cocoon. Donghyuck hummed.

“Did you know her?” He asked quietly, with kind eyes.

“Not really…” Joohyun swallowed, “I mean we were in the same workstation but… not really. Did you know the boy you volunteered for?”

“No, not really.” Donghyuck smiled ruefully.

“Good.” Joohyun laughed shakily, “Seungkwan was a bitch. He always used to pull on my hair during Academy.” Donghyuck paused for a moment and stared at her for a long minute before he burst into bright laughter. 

“Well aren’t you glad you don’t have to ride the train with him?” He said cheekily. 

“That’s true. You saved me from that little monster, I guess I owe you now.” She snickered. It felt nice just to sit and talk with someone. It almost helped her forget where they were headed.

“You know you’re pretty cool Bae Joohyun.” He smiled, “How come we haven’t met? What workstation are you in?”

“Mobile tech, mostly security programming for the Capitol’s cell phones.” She said with a shrug, “What about you?”

“I’m just in production, so nowhere near your level.” Donghyuck shrugged.

“That’s not fair!” Joohyun said, “I just tell the machine what to do, you’re the one that actually makes it. Without you I wouldn’t even have anything to program.”

“I mean you’re not wrong, but you know how it is.” Donghyuck scrunched his nose. Just then someone else came through the door into the car.

“Knock knock,” Yeojin said as she came in to sit across from the pair, “How are you guys holding up?”

“Pretty alright.” Donghyuck said with a disarming smile. Joohyun wondered how he could be so calm.

“Good.” Yeojin’s eyes softened, “What you did out there was very brave Joohyun. I promise, we’re going to do whatever we can to get you home.”

“Why?” Joohyun said as she felt a spark of anger inside her chest, “What’s the point in getting me home? Even if I do get home, the Capitol could still just show up and kill me whenever they want. They’ve made this Quarter Quell specifically to show us that. Even if I do make it home I’m never going to be safe. Not under the Capitol at least. They’re gonna kill me one way or another, this is just the most efficient way.” Yeojin blinked. “You of all people should know that.”

A moment of silence fell over the room as Yeojin cocked her head to the side. Her eyes scanned Joohyun up and down before she eventually nodded to herself.

“You’re right.” She said quietly, “I do know that. But it doesn’t mean I have to lie down and die. Even if there isn’t really any hope for the future…” Yeojin took a deep breath, almost as if she was steeling herself, “If there’s already no hope then… we don’t have anything to lose then do we? We don’t have to make it easy for them. Yeah?” Joohyun was stunned. When she glanced over Donghyuck was nodding along, a fire in his eyes that she had never seen before. Suddenly she felt like she was in way over her head. “Anyways,” Yeojin smiled, “Donghyuck can I talk to you alone for a minute?” He nodded and got to his feet.

“I’ll be back later, okay?” Donghyuck said quietly before he followed Yeojin out the door.

Once they were both gone Joohyun let her mind wander and, in typical District 3 style, they wandered back to the numbers. They were something solid that she could understand, or at least try too. It was easier than anything else at the moment really. 

The odds of winning were decidedly not in her favor. They were never really in anybody’s favor to be fair. Statistically the winner tended to be from a Career District, which left her out of the running immediately. Even out of the non-Career Districts, District 3 didn’t exactly have a great legacy of winning the games. She was more likely to survive than anyone from District 6 or 12, but it was still unlikely. 

Joohyun thought about it a lot, ever since Yoona volunteered for her. She wondered if she would ever be actually capable of taking another human’s life. Just the thought made her feel sick. She wasn’t like Yeojin, not really. Yeojin did what she had to do in order to survive… Joohyun wasn’t sure if she could actually do that. She groaned out loud.

This line of thought was never going to go anywhere, she might as well just take a nap and try not to think about it for as long as she could. So Joohyun curled up tighter in her blanket cocoon and closed her eyes.

When Joohyun woke up the room was dark. Somewhere along the line someone had come through and put a pillow under her and given her another blanket. That little act of kindness made her smile for a brief moment before she remembered where she was, where she was going. Joohyun took a deep long breath before forcing herself to her feet. Immediately she missed the cocoon of warmth so she grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it around her shoulders.

She wasn’t sure where she was going, so she just started moving forward through the cars until she came to one where she found Yeojin and Donghyuck, with a rather sullen Taekwoon sitting in the corner. The second she entered the car Yeojin and Donghyuck went silent, both of their heads whipping towards her. She paused, standing by the door.

“Did I interrupt something?” Joohyun asked awkwardly.

“No! You’re fine, come sit.” Yeojin said immediately, gesturing to an open seat at the table next to her.

“Did you have a good nap?” Donghyuck asked kindly and Joohyun nodded. 

“Good,” Yeojin said sagely, “I was debating coming to wake you up. We need to get you up to speed.”

“On what?” Joohyun pulled the blanket closer around her shoulders and pulled her knees up to her chest.

“Well, we’re going into the death arena. Probably a good idea to get advice from some folks that have already been in it.” Donghyuck shrugged. Joohyun glanced over at Taekwoon and Yeojin cleared her throat.

“Taeyeon can’t be here today, she usually stays home if someone else can go to the Capitol, but Taekwoon has some good advice.” Yeojin smiled, “He just needs some time to warm up to people. In the meantime though, we need to go over your strengths.”

“Right. I’m not the strongest but I was in production so,” Donghyuck ruffled his own hair, “Not the weakest I guess.”

“Perfect.” Yeojin smiled, “Any sports? Any… extra activities outside work?”

“Baseball. I play baseball with the rest of the production workstation. I’m pretty alright I guess.” He grinned sheepishly.

“That’s good! That’s really good.” Yeojin turned to Joohyun, “What about you?”

“I’m in mobile tech, I do the programming.” Joohyun took a long pause, “I’ll be honest, I don’t usually do much outside of that.” She shrugged, “I like to go jogging.”

“That’s good,” Yeojin cocked her head to the side, “You could use that to your advantage. Being fast is never a bad thing. Neither is being smart.”

“If you win, you’ll win because you’re smart.” A soft, quiet voice mumbled from behind them. Taekwoon moved slowly to join them at their table. His hands were shaking as he tried to pull a chair out so Donghyuck jumped up to help him. “This year will be different though.” Taekwoon mumbled so quietly Joohyun almost didn’t hear him.

“Right…” Yeojin sighed, “It’s a Quarter Quell. The Capitol built a whole new Arena, right in the middle of the Capitol itself. There’s new training quarters, new dormitories you’ll be staying in. Quarter Quells are no joke.”

“Do you know anything about being nature?” Taekwoon asked without once looking up from his knees.

“Sort of.” Donghyuck shrugged.

“Nature…” Taekwoon swallowed, “It’s brutal. The Arena wants you dead more than the other tributes do.” Something in his tone of voice made Joohyun shiver.

“We’ll take that to heart.” She said quietly.

-

They got to the Capitol within the hour and immediately they were both shepherded into a large bath house. Joohyun had never felt so stripped clean in her entire life than she did when they were done with her. None of the stylists said a word. Her hair was dyed a shimmering pale purple color and put in loose curls. Her nails were coated in silver glitter. They covered her in jewelry. It was unsettling to some deeper part of herself. Joohyun liked her straight long black hair. She liked her plain nails. She liked her warm clothes. Jewelry made her skin itch.

By the time the Capitol stylists were done with her she looked like a dazzling tinfoil hat. The dress was more revealing than she would have liked. It was a short form-fitting bedazzled dress. Bright silver and covered in little lights. Like a circuit board maybe? That was her best guess. Her arms were covered but her legs were completely exposed and she was put into high heels. It wasn’t her first time getting dressed up, every year the Capitol practically made them host a ball in District 3. That didn’t make it any more comfortable.

She was ushered into an area with twelve massive stage coaches, each with two horses waiting to carry them. Joohyun tugged awkwardly at the bottom of her dress as she made her way towards the third stage coach. Donghyuck was already standing next to it, carefully petting one of the horses. She was just making her way over to him when a warm hand gently grabbed her by the arm.

“Hey, you’re Joohyun right?” She was pretty, with short dark brown hair cut off at her shoulders. “I’m Yeri, it’s nice to meet you.” Her voice was so nice, it took Joohyun a second to process.

“Y-yeah.” Joohyun let her eyes roam up and down Yeri’s body. She was wearing a beautiful dress, similar to Joohyun’s but a soft green color instead. There were vines and leaves sewn in an intricate pattern throughout the dress. District 7 maybe? “It’s good- nice to meet you.” Suddenly Joohyun’s mouth was dry. Yeri giggled.

“You’re really brave you know.” Yeri said kindly and took a step closer to Joohyun. She ran her fingers through one of the curls in Joohyun’s hair. 

“I-I get that a lot.” Joohyun stuttered, still in complete shock over what was happening.

“I bet you do.” Yeri smiled. Just then Donghyuck called out.

“Joohyun! We have to get ready!”

“I should- um…” Joohyun fumbled.

“Cute.” Yeri said quietly, “I’ll see you out there.” She said as she pulled herself into her stage coach. Joohyun walked numbly towards the one next to Donghyuck. Without a word he grabbed a blanket that had been left over the side of the carriage and held it up behind her as she clambered up.

“Thank you…” Joohyun blushed as she tugged again at the hem of her dress.

“So…” He smirked, “I saw you over there with that girl from District 7.”

“Shut up!” Joohyun hissed and she felt her blush get deeper. Whatever Donghyuck was about to say in reply was drowned out by the roaring of the crowds as the horses started to move forward. Suddenly they were being pulled into a grand pathway, with golden stadium seating on either side filled to the brim with folks from the Capitol. They were cheering them on. Fans on either side were yelling, the noise was completely overwhelming. Joohyun flinched away from it at first but then Donghyuck took her hand and she remembered herself. Taking a deep breath she put on a smile and waved back at their audience as best she could. Within what felt like seconds but had to have been at least a couple minutes the stage coaches had found their marks in front of the President.

The President was a younger man. He took over after his father passed away. The people in Panem’s Capitol seemed to love him. They thought he was hilarious. He was known for pulling a prank on some of his father’s court staff the day they announced a 20% decrease in food being redistributed around the Districts. The Capitol laughed because President Psy did a funny dance for them. Joohyun’s little sister died later that year. There wasn’t enough food to go around and she was too little to go without food. President Psy went viral every month or so on the Capitol cellular network for making a fool of himself.

Most of the people in District 3 thought he was just an idiot. Joohyun thought the same up until that exact moment. He was standing up above them all on a grand platform, but even from that distance Joohyun could feel his piercing gaze as he surveyed the tributes. Joohyun shivered as his gaze passed over her. She hoped she never had to get any closer to the man.

“Welcome,” President Psy said into the microphone and cleared his throat, “Welcome tributes! We thank you for your courage and for your sacrifice. On behalf of all the Capitol I wish each and every one of you a happy Hunger Games. And of course, may the odds be ever in your favor.”


	3. Roll Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How… how am I supposed to kill these people? I don’t think I can.” Just then Taekwoon’s head snapped up and he looked her directly in the eyes for the first time. It shocked her so badly she took a step back. For a long moment he stood there, face impassive and eyes trained on hers, before he seemed to find what he wanted. He nodded to himself before he spoke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright this chapter there aren't any specific content warnings but there are two trigger warnings: one for allusions to sexual violence (non-graphic) around when they start discussing District 9. the second is for vomiting and a borderline anxiety attack at the very end of the chapter.

Yeojin and Taekwoon were waiting for them by the time the stage coaches returned to their original post. Taekwoon’s head was bowed and he kept his gaze down but Yeojin ran up to them the second the coaches had stopped. Donghyuck hopped down and held up the blanket again so Joohyun could get down. Yeojin smiled at her sympathetically.

“You look beautiful, even if your dress is a little short.” That got a laugh out of Joohyun.

“As long as they don’t expect me to wear this in the arena then it’ll be fine.” Joohyun said with a small smile.

“Let’s get you two into more comfortable clothes,” Yeojin said lightly, “We have to talk about the other tributes.” As Yeojin and Taekwoon led them away Joohyun paused. The hair on the back of her neck picked up and when she turned her eyes met Yeri’s. Yeri was staring at her with an unconcealed interest that made Joohyun blush. Yeri winked. Joohyun choked on air and ran to catch up with the other three. The others were waiting for her inside a large, gilded elevator. The second the doors closed Donghyuck burst out laughing.

“District 7 girl has really got you thrown for a loop, huh?” He said between giggles.

“Donghyuck be nice,” Yeojin rolled her eyes, “That was adorable. I never thought I would see someone older than me turn into such a panicked gay.” Joohyun stared at them both with wide eyes before she heard a small chuckle coming from Taekwoon. It was a nice sound, even if he was still staring at the ground.

“You guys are mean.” She settled on saying. Joohyun still couldn’t help the slight smile on her face even as the rest of them teased her. It was a nice, light feeling. That feeling lasted the entire time they changed. Joohyun had to show Donghyuck how to gently remove his makeup. Joohyun was curled under a blanket by the time Donghyuck came out of his bedroom in a huge hoodie and glasses. Donghyuck wordlessly grabbed another blanket to wrap Joohyun more securely in her little cocoon. Taekwoon had taken over a small armchair to the side while Yeojin stood before them with a bittersweet smile. It was time to get down to business.

“Alright guys, we have to go through the other tributes now.” Yeojin sighed and turned to a large screen behind her. She held a remote in her hand and when she pressed a button the screen came to life with a video from what looked like District 1. “Taekwoon and I talked to a couple of the other mentors during the parade, but the District 1 mentors have never been the most… forthcoming.” She said with a wince. 

On the screen a tall beautiful woman stood on a stage, her long red hair cascading over her shoulders. She looked so beautiful- like an exact replica of the dolls little girls sometimes had in the Capitol. Next to her was a tall serious looking man who towered over her. They held hands and raised them to the sky, smiling while their audience cheered.

“This is Yooa and Johnny, they’re brother and sister. Both are volunteers. I’ve heard some rumors about them, but I’ll be honest we don’t know much.” Yeojin said.

“They’re both drop-outs.” Taekwoon piped up suddenly, “Left the training to be careers. Still deadly.” Yeojin nodded before ghe changed the screen.

“This is Mingyu and Yeoreum, both volunteers and both trainers.” This time the image was of a rather short woman with silvery blonde hair next to a giant of a man. On the screen both tributes were staring blankly at a large audience, “They make a living teaching kids how to win the Hunger Games. They will be your biggest competition.” The screen changed then to a stage next to what looked like the ocean.

“This is District 4 I managed to talk to one of their mentors earlier.” Yeojin winced, “Yuju, the girl, is a volunteer but Lucas isn’t.” The man on the screen looked huge, but even then he managed to cower behind the woman who was standing looking straight out off the stage. Something in her gaze made Joohyun shiver. “I’ll be honest, I talked to their mentor Yves and she seems to think Lucas won’t do too well. He’s strong, but he’s scared. Yuju is the exact opposite. Be careful of her.”

“District 5 are both volunteers-”

“Wait,” Joohyun bit her lip, “How are there so many volunteers this year? There usually aren’t this many…” The room was silent for a beat. Donghyuck froze for a brief second before seeming to relax again. Yeojin blinked a couple of times before she continued on as if she hadn’t heard Joohyun at all.

“Hoshi and Yeonjung, according to their mentor Jinsoul they’re both looking to get any allies that they can. Something to keep in mind.” Yeojin quickly flipped to the next shot.

The next shot broke Joohyun’s heart. It was District 6, but both tributes had tears streaming down their faces. The girl was short and curled in on herself, while the boy was much taller and staring straight ahead even as the tears continued to wash over his face.

“Wonwoo and Umji.” Yeojin sighed, “I’ll be honest, their mentor is worried for them. I don’t think they’ll give you much trouble. They wouldn’t even talk to Wendy the entire train ride.” The next shot came on the screen and Joohyun felt her cheeks go pink again.

“I believe you’ve already met Yeri from District 7,” Yeojin grinned, “Next to her is Jooheon. She volunteered, he didn’t. I can ask Seulgi if we can coordinate you being allies.” Joohyun nodded before she even realized what she was doing. 

“Whipped,” Donghyuck muttered under his breath and her blush got even deeper.

“Moving on, District 8. We have Jungwoo and Seunghee. They both volunteered but…” Yeojin trailed off.

“District 8 isn’t exactly known for winning.” Donghyuck supplied.

“They only have one victor Jeno.” Taekwoon said quietly. Joohyun recognized the name. She thought she remembered the year Jeno won. He hid in the Cornucopia until there was only one other tribute remaining. Then he all he had to do was wait until that last tribute came to him and he killed her. The memory made Joohyun nauseous. 

“Then there’s District 9,” Yeojin started, “They have Yuta and Jiho, both also volunteers and also, in about the same boat as District 8 was.”

“Jaemin and Jeno got married this year.” Taekwoon supplied quietly.

“Jaemin?” Donghyuck asked with an eyebrow raised. Joohyun remembered that year. District 9 only had one victor, just like 8, but their victor was significantly more damaged by the Games.

“You might have been too young to see it then…” Joohyun swallowed, “He was attacked by a couple of Careers. They kept him as a… I guess a pet for a little while before he poisoned them.”

“They don’t show it anymore.” Yeojin mumbled, “Jaemin is a really sweet boy though. We’re all glad to have him as a fellow victor. The games really shook him up though, so now he lives in the Capitol with Jeno.”

“Right.” Donghyuck said as understanding washed over his features. “Um… District 10 then?”

“Right.” Yeojin nodded and switched to the next video, “District 10 is another double volunteer, but they’re a little more hearty than 8 and 9.” On the screen was a tall beautiful girl with a ring through her bottom lip, next to one of the most handsome men Joohyun had seen in her life. He had dimples when he smiled. “This is Doyeon and Jaehyun. If they have any advantage over you it’s the fact that they know how to work with animals. If there’s mutts in the arena they’ll have the advantage there. Chuu didn’t have any interesting information on them.” As Yeojin clicked to the next video Joohyun wondered again about the volunteers. Most years the only people who volunteered were from the Career districts- so District 1 or 2. There had never been this many volunteers in Joohyun’s entire life. Especially not from the outer districts. She was distracted when Taekwoon jumped up from his seat.

“That’s Haseul’s wife.” He said simply, staring straight at the screen. “That’s her wife.”

“Yeah.” Yeojin cleared her throat, “Yeah it is. Vivi um, I guess she volunteered.” On the screen was a young man on the stage, looking completely shocked as a petite woman with long blonde hair stepped onto the stage to join him. In the background it looked like the Peacekeepers were holding someone back- one of the mentors. Joohyun recognized her. Cho Haseul was one of the most popular victors in the Capitol. She was a favorite even before she won. In the Games she managed to pick up a scythe from the Cornucopia and went on a sort of rampage.

“The boy is Mark. He volunteered too. He lived with Vivi and Haseul before all of this mess, so I guess that’s why Vivi volunteered.” Yeojin shook her head, “I couldn’t find Haseul earlier. I doubt she’s taking this very well.

“Last but not least,” Yeojin said as she changed the screen, “We have District 12. Taeyong and Mimi. Taeyong volunteered, their mentor Ten said that Mimi is having a hard time but Taeyong might be open to allies.”

“Ten is back?” Donghyuck asked excitedly and Joohyun couldn’t help but smile. Ten was another favorite victor. He was the first transgender victor. His activism was the reason people like Joohyun could exist freely. He took a bit of a break from mentorship duties for a while so Joohyun was grateful to see him back.

“Yeah, I talked to him earlier,” Yeojin said brightly, “He’s the same asshole he always was but we love him for it.” Taekwoon snorted at that. That was when it hit Joohyun. Suddenly she turned to Donghyuck. His bronze skin was glowing a bit from when she had helped him wash his face earlier. The excitement in his eyes at the prospect of finding a way to meet his idol was beautiful. Just the thought of those bright eyes closing for the last time in a place like the arena made Joohyun sick.

She ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She could hear Yeojin and Donghyuck calling for her over the sounds of herself being sick. Joohyun couldn’t do this. There was no way she could do this. It felt like she was locked in the bathroom for hours but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes.

Eventually the room stopped spinning. Eventually her body stopped trying to force up what little food she had in her. Eventually she could breathe again. So Joohyun delicately cleaned herself up. She wiped the sick away from the side of her mouth and brushed her teeth. Shakily she cleaned up the bathroom as best as she could. She couldn’t hear anything from the other side of the door so she decided it must be safe as she slowly unlocked and opened the door to the bathroom.

Donghyuck and Yeojin were gone, but Taekwoon was standing just outside the door, staring straight at the ground like always.

“Are you okay?” He asked so quietly she almost didn’t hear it.

“Y-Yeah. I’m fine.” Joohyun stuttered. He nodded and started to walk away, but before he could she stopped him “Wait I… can I ask you something?” She swallowed harshly when he nodded. “How… how am I supposed to kill these people? I don’t think I can.” Just then Taekwoon’s head snapped up and he looked her directly in the eyes for the first time. It shocked her so badly she took a step back. For a long moment he stood there, face impassive and eyes trained on hers, before he seemed to find what he wanted. He nodded to himself before he spoke up.

“Just stay alive. As long as you can, just stay alive.” Taekwoon said and with that he walked away. Joohyun felt like her head was reeling. Even after her nap earlier in the day she was exhausted. So she hauled herself off to an empty bedroom and curled up under the covers. When she closed her eyes she couldn’t help but hope that in the morning she would wake up at home and all of this would have been just a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took me longer than usual to post i was struggling a lot with making a moodboard for this chapter? so shout out to ami cause i wouldn't have been able to post this otherwise.


	4. First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “W-what do you want?” Joohyun whispered. Yeri seemed to consider for a moment before she just smiled.
> 
> “Keep me company after training is over.” She said and Joohyun coughed loudly, attracting the attention of the other tributes and their instructor. Joohyun waved them off while Yeri tried to control her laughter. Donghyuck sent her a sly smirk and Joohyun scowled playfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so this chapter we have a trigger warning for some sexual harassment along with a trigger warning for a mention of vomiting at the very end of the chapter. Otherwise it should be clear!

Their first day in the Capitol was spent in the Training Center.

“Just learn everything you can today.” Yeojin said as she sent the two of them off. Joohyun would be lying if she said she wasn’t overwhelmed the second they entered the room. All of the tributes were brought into what seemed like a huge warehouse filled with weapons and technology that Joohyun had never even seen before in her life. A man stood before them with a cheerful smile as he explained the purpose of every station in the room and Joohyun tuned him out. She quickly surveyed the room trying to decide which station she should actually bother using. Suddenly she felt a little tap on her shoulder and whirled around.

“Hey there,” Yeri said quietly, stepping up to take her place directly next to Joohyun. “I’ll teach you how to use an axe if you do something for me.”

“W-what do you want?” Joohyun whispered. Yeri seemed to consider for a moment before she just smiled.

“Keep me company after training is over.” She said and Joohyun coughed loudly, attracting the attention of the other tributes and their instructor. Joohyun waved them off while Yeri tried to control her laughter. Donghyuck sent her a sly smirk and Joohyun scowled playfully.

Once the instructor set them loose Yeri made good on her promise and showed Joohyun how to use an axe. It occurred to Joohyun that in District 7 Yeri probably literally grew up with one in her hand. Yeri moved quickly and deliberately, taking down her sparring partner immediately every time. Joohyun really didn’t feel like she learned much but Yeri was patient and stayed close to her so it was almost worth it. At least, it was worth it until Yeri’s district partner came and pulled her away. Suddenly Joohyun was alone and when she glanced around the training area she also couldn’t find Donghyuck. A low level of anxiety and nausea started to bubble up in her chest so she tried to move with purpose, keep her head held high, as she made her way to the only empty station. 

Joohyun felt the eyes of a handful of the other tributes on her so she schooled her expression into an impassive one. The last thing she needed was to appear weak. The only station that was empty was the ropes course. She silently cursed her decision as she kept going until she was at the base of the station. She would have to hoist herself up to the top and try to get across the entire thing without falling. Joohyun decided that it would be best not to think about it too hard so the second she reached the station she jumped up and started the course. Luckily, once she was on the course she couldn’t feel many eyes left on her. The last thing she needed was someone watching her as she navigated this. 

She started to move through the course slowly, and eventually, about halfway through, she chanced looking down. Her path had taken her towards the middle of the training center, so she was just above the archery station. Specifically she was just above some of the tributes. The tributes from Districts 1 and 2 were giggling as they all gathered in a circle to talk. Looking around Joohyun was fairly certain that the other tributes had all forgotten she was even up on the ropes course. So she decided to take a chance. She was just a little to high up to hear what they were saying so she tied her ponytail into a bun and carefully moved onto some of the lower hanging ropes. Then, once she was as close to them as she could get she hooked her knees over one of the ropes and fell to hang by her legs. For a brief moment anxiety overcame her. She was in a completely open and vulnerable position like this, but then she realized something. Joohyun could hear every word they were saying, and she was still high up enough that there would be no way they could notice her.

“I say we get someone from 3 as a little…. pet.” Yooa was saying. 

“That’s fine, but I want to take down the little twink from 12.” Mingyu said with a chuckle.

“Let’s grab that girl from 3.” Yeoreum smirked, “She’s pretty enough. Plus I heard the boy from 3 this year is useless anyways.”

“You two grab her from the Cornucopia, Mingyu and I will take everyone else down that comes for supplies.” Johnny said decisively and the rest nodded. He must be the leader. A familiar anger started to boil inside Joohyun. She heard what people said about her back at 3. She had a pretty face. Honestly it tended to hurt her more than it helped. Just as she was about to hoist herself back up she saw something gleaming. On the ropes course there were a handful of metal chains mixed in with the rope, and a couple of heavy tires too. She grinned. If Joohyun was going to die in a few days anyway she couldn’t see why she had to put up with the Career pack.

She hoisted herself up higher, into the shadows above the lights hanging from the ceilings, even going as far as to perch delicately on top of one of the hanging lights. The chains weren’t very well secured, one even looked like it was mostly hanging by a metal hook in the ceiling. Perfect.

Glancing back down she realized the Career pack was about to move stations and Joohyun that if she wanted to do something she had to do it now. So she unceremoniously unhooked what looked like the main chain holding some of the tires up. She didn’t get a chance to really appreciate her handiwork, she had to stay hidden on one of the lights. Yooa screamed and Johnny yelled while Yeoreum seemed to be laughing at them in the background. Joohyun could just hear absolute chaos from down below. She grinned.

-

When they were released from training for the day Joohyun glanced around to find Yeri and realized she hadn’t been around for most of the day. Part of Joohyun was disappointed, but another part was relieved. It seemed that about half of the tributes weren’t even in the training center, she realized after a moment. It was strange. 

Joohyun brushed it off and headed up to her dormitory, hoping to get a bit of rest after such a long day. Yooa was trying and failing to hide a limp as she made her way to the elevator. Johnny had a giant bruise running the length of his arm. Joohyun smirked.

She ended up taking the elevator up to her dormitory alone, but was startled when she entered the room. A handful of tributes and mentors were all gathered around large digital images on the dining room table, seemingly deep in conversation that halted the second they recognized her presence. It shocked her to realize that all of the mentors were actually there, including Xiao Dejun and Jang Yeeun from Districts 1 and 2 respectively.

“H-hi.” Joohyun stuttered out after a long silence. She recognized a lot of the tributes in the room. Donghyuck, Yeri, most of the ones from the outer districts… a lot of the volunteers this year.

“Is training over?” Dejun asked, his voice cold and his gaze hard.

“Y-yes sir.” Joohyun almost whispered, but Dejun seemed to hear her.

“Haseul, we’ll talk about this later.” He said before brushing past Joohyun into the elevator, Jang Yeeun following.

“Would you like to come sit?” A woman asked, gesturing to the now empty seat next to her. Joohyun thought she recognized the woman as Seulgi, from District 7. Joohyun nodded and as she went to take a seat the others quickly scrubbed away whatever files they had been going over. “How did training go?” Seulgi asked with a smile.

“F-Fine…” Joohyun’s eyes bounced around the room from face to face, “U-um there was an accident. Some of the ropes course fell on the Careers.”

“Oh my god!” Ten, the mentor from District 12 laughed, “Yeeun is going to pitch a god damn fit. I can’t wait to see that.” Joohyun couldn’t help but grin. 

-

The other mentors and tributes stayed around for a long while and ended up joining Joohyun and Donghyuck for dinner. They got to trade stories from their districts, talk about their work, school, love lives. Yeri sat next to Joohyun the entire time. When Yeri let her hand settle on Joohyun’s thigh she blushed so hard that Ten jokingly asked if she was coming down with a fever. Joohyun threw a napkin at him and the entire table devolved into giggles.

It wasn’t until later that it occurred to Joohyun once again. In just a few days she would be killing these people. Nobody else seemed to be that concerned. She knew she wouldn’t be able to do it though. Joohyun couldn’t kill Yuju, now that she knew about Yuju’s childhood best friend and now wife. She couldn’t kill Yuta, what about his little sister? Or Jungwoo’s puppies? Or Doyeon’s entire family? Or Vivi, after watching her interact with her wife the entire night and Mark who might as well be their son? The thought made her so sick again that she had to run to the bathroom. At least this time no one was around to see it, she thought as she gently cleaned her teeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> by the way, i have this fic like almost completely written. the doc is sitting at about 70k, i'm just like struggling to figure out how often i want to post?? so let me know.


	5. Evaluations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s a Quarter Quell.” Yeojin shook her head, “I won’t lie to you, Quarter Quells are known for being particularly brutal. Any favor you can gain with the Capitol will go a long way to helping you out there.”  
>  “The Capitol just wants a good show, right?” Donghyuck said quietly, “So as long as we give them one then we’ll be in the clear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright this chapter we have some mild injuries but no actual content or trigger warnings! Cool!

The next day at training Joohyun was the one pulled out. Yeojin came in while she was struggling to memorize different types of plants and gently pulled her into what looked like a small nurse’s room. Ten was there, sitting at a desk playing with his cell phone and didn’t look up until Yeojin ushered Joohyun into the seat across from him. Without a word Yeojin saw herself out and they were left alone.

“So, Yeojin is awkward about this kind of thing but she told me you might need hormones?” Ten said as he crossed one leg over the other. Joohyun only nodded. “That’s fine. They won’t let you have pills in the arena, unfair advantage and all that.” He rolled his eyes, “It’s not a perfect replacement and I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t, you know, life or death.” Ten said as he pulled a small syringe out “I assume you take the pills, right?”

“Yeah…” Joohyun swallowed, “For years now. Capitol standard ones at least.”

“Right,” Ten grimaced, “This is a much higher dose. It shouldn’t make you sick or anything, but it should also mean you won’t need to go back on your pills for two weeks. Hopefully you’ll be back out of the arena by then.”

“What makes you think I’ll be getting out.” Joohyun muttered darkly. Ten paused. For a long moment he sat there, piercing gaze directed only at her.

“Just stay alive. Okay?” He said after a long while.

“That’s what Taekwoon said too.” Joohyun cocked her head to the side.

“Good. He’s smart, listen to what he has to say.” Ten smiled, “Now, do you want to do this yourself or do you want help?”

-

That night Yeojin sat Donghyuck and Joohyun down to talk strategy.

“Alright, tomorrow you both are going in to do your individual evaluations in the morning, then at night you’ll be going on Park Bogum’s show for your interviews. Joohyun, you will have to wear an awkward dress again, I’m sorry.” Yeojin said with honest remorse in her voice. “But, we need to talk about you individual evaluations. It’s in your best interest to get the highest number that you can. Do you know what skills you’ll both be doing already?”

“Yep!” Donghyuck said cheerfully, “I’m going to use the weights.”

“I’ll do the gauntlets.” Joohyun said quietly.

“Are- are you sure?” Yeojin asked, her eyes wide. Joohyun just nodded. “I mean, okay.” Yeojin shrugged, “Well, let’s move onto the interview. You need to make people like you. It’s crucial, especially in games like this.”

“What do you mean?” Joohyun furrowed her brow.

“It’s a Quarter Quell.” Yeojin shook her head, “I won’t lie to you, Quarter Quells are known for being particularly brutal. Any favor you can gain with the Capitol will go a long way to helping you out there.”

“The Capitol just wants a good show, right?” Donghyuck said quietly, “So as long as we give them one then we’ll be in the clear.

“Right.” Yeojin agreed. “Well, on that note both of you need to get some beauty sleep. I don’t like getting yelled at by the stylists when they have to cover up some undereye circles. Off to bed!” She said and Joohyun laughed. It occurred to her how grateful she should be that Yeojin was her mentor. She wasn’t sure Taekwoon or Taeyeon would have been able to do it. Hell, Taeyeon didn’t even come to the Capitol. Plus it was better than having someone like Jang Yeeun or Xiao Dejun, who looked like they wouldn’t hesitate to kill you if you stepped one toe out of line. She really was grateful, and for the first time in days sleep came easy.

When it came time to do the individual evaluations Joohyun felt sick again. She was starting to seriously rethink her decision to run the gauntlets course. Logically, she knew that she had the upperhand in them. She was faster than any of the other tributes, that much had become apparent over the last few days. Part of her was just so terrified she started to worry she would actually be sick in front of the judges. Luckily, since she was from District 3, she would be one of the first tributes to go in front of the judges. Plus, she had the advantage in that 

no one else had decided to run the gauntlets course. That had to pique the judges interest at least a little bit. 

Joohyun was so lost in her own thoughts that she about jumped out of her skin when Donghyuck tapped her on the shoulder. It was her turn. She had to go prove her worth. 

The gauntlets course was fairly straight forward. All Joohyun had to do was try to finish it as fast as she possibly could. It was basically a series of platforms at different heights that she had to run across. The only real wrinkle would be that trainers would be all over the course, trying to hit her with clubs. Plus, since it was her individual evaluation she knew they would be trying even harder to knock her down. 

When she walked into the room the judges were all sitting high above on a raised platform looking down at the room. They had prepared the gauntlets course for her already, with the trainers standing at their positions already suited up. Joohyun took a deep breath and, without sparing the judges another glance, she made her way to the course with her head held high.

She jumped up onto the first platform so quickly that some of the trainers didn’t even realize what she was doing and missed their chance. Then she sprinted forward as fast as she could. She hopped over the first four platforms without an issue, keeping low to the ground the entire time. Then, as she neared the fifth platform she realized that the trainers had switched the course up a little bit. Probably to prevent her from just memorizing it and running. The fifth platform was higher than it had been before, and there were more trainers waiting for her. One of the trainers swung the club towards her where she had been keeping low and she saw her chance. She jumped so she landed on the club and used it as leverage to jump and be able to reach the fifth platform and pull herself up before the other trainers could catch her. It seemed like the trainers on the next platforms were genuinely surprised she had gotten up there so quickly, so she was able to dash past them without much interferance. She was panting by the time she got to the last platform and finished the course, but she had managed to go the entire way without being hit once. 

Joohyun was ready to make for the exit when a voice called out to her.

“Wait,” It was one of the judges, “We still have time after all,” He said in a deep voice, “Run the course again.” Joohyun cocked her head to the side.

“Yes.” Another judge spoke up, “Let’s reset the course and have her run it again.” Before Joohyun could say another word the second judge leaned over and pushed a button. When Joohyun turned back to the course it was completely resetting itself in a different formation than how she had run it. For one thing the platforms were all much higher up. The highest platform was in the middle this time, and so high up that Joohyun thought she might even be able to reach the ceiling from that position.

“Well then,” A different judge called out, “Let’s restart the clock.” Joohyun froze and watched as her time on the clock was reset. “Go again girl.” The judge said and the time started. Without a second thought Joohyun ran towards the course. 

Luckily she had a running start that let her leap up onto the first platform. She outran the trainers on the first few platforms but when she got to the second highest she was caught. One of the trainers managed to hit her with a club straight to the leg as she was trying to climb up to a higher platform. Joohyun kept going, trying to drown out any thought of pain she had in her mind. On the top platform she was greeted by three different trainers and she immediately knew what she would have to do. It wasn’t graceful, but she managed to jump high enough to grip onto the ropes course hovering above the entire training center. She pulled her legs up and started to spider crawl across the ceiling as best as she could. When she glanced down it looked like the trainers were so shocked that none of them even managed to think of a method to stop her. So she crawled on until she knew she was at the end of the course and dropped.

It was honestly a miracle that she landed mostly on her feet.

The clock stopped and Joohyun had to assess if she had broken any bones without making it obvious to the judges. She was sore, for sure, but nothing hurt quite that badly. So Joohyun turned back to face the panel of judges. Every one of them was staring at her, eyes wide. Joohyun took that as her signal to leave. So, before they could change their minds, she scurried out of the training center.

When she got back to the District 3 dormitory Yeojin and Yeeun were sitting at the dining table talking over a cup of coffee. Yeojin immediately scrambled to her feet and ran to grab the first aid kit while Joohyun fell into the seat across from Yeeun. Yeeun looked Joohyun up and down with an inquisitive eye, delicately brushing her beautiful blonde hair away from her face as she did.

“Tough eval?” She asked, raising her eyebrows. Joohyun just laughed. Yeeun gracefully recrossed her legs and took another sip from her coffee as they sat in silence. After a moment of silence Yeojin returned and immediately started fussing over a small scratch on Joohyun’s face that she hadn’t even noticed. Looking down she realized her arms and legs were also covered in small scratches.

“What happened?” Yeojin asked, clearly exasperated as she tried to basically cover Joohyun in ointment.

“I ran the gauntlets.” Joohyun said and Yeeun snorted. “Then they made me run it again. So I climbed onto the ropes course on the ceiling.” Yeojin and Yeeun both started at her for a long moment, completely different expressions on their face. Yeojin, for her part, looked horrified, but Yeeun looked…. Almost impressed. At least, that’s how it seemed when she nodded to herself and set her coffee down.

“Well if you’re done that means my kids must be done too.” Yeeun said as she carefully rose to her feet. “I’ll see you both soon.” She called over her shoulder as she gracefully made her way to the elevator.

“God I can’t believe they made you run the course twice.” Yeojin said as she shook her head and went back to work patching Joohyun up.

“None of the trainers hit me the first time.” Joohyun supplied, “I don’t think they appreciated that so I had to go again.”

“God, I forgot all of the judges are bastards.” Yeojin sighed, “Well at least that’s done with. And the Capitol ointment will get you patched up before tonight.” Sure enough when Joohyun glanced down at her legs they were already starting to heal.

“I’m back!” Donghyuck called as he got off the elevator and threw himself down into the seat next to Joohyun. “God, you look as awful as I feel.”

“What happened?” Joohyun asked as she ran a hand through his soft hair.

“Just. The boy from 6 was being really creepy towards me.” Donghyuck said as he let himself be pet, “After you left he was being a total creep and giving me weird looks. He even tried catcalling me until the boy from 11, Mark, stepped in. It was gross.” Donghyuck pouted.

“Well, you probably won’t be alone again with him, so you’ll be okay.” Joohyun said as she kept petting his hair.

“She’s right,” Yeojin said as she began to pack away the first aid kit, “All you have left is the interviews and then tomorrow you’ll both be off into the arena.”

“God, speaking of the interviews…” Donghyuck groaned, “I don’t know what to do. I know we have to make an impression, but how?” Yeojin sighed.

“I mean, I don’t want to downplay their importance but…” She hesitated, “I’m honestly not the best with this part. My own interview didn’t go well. Neither did Taekwoon’s or Taeyeon’s.”

“I mean…” Something occurred to Joohyun just then, “Taeyeon’s didn’t go well, but she still got a bunch of sponsor gifts. She managed to say something that pissed off the entire Capitol, but she still won and still had sponsors. So I guess the moral is to just make our interview memorable?” Yeojin shrugged.

“Please don’t bring the wrath of the Capitol on us!” Donghyuck said with a laugh, “But you’ve probably got a point.

“Yeah you’re absolutely not wrong.” Yeojin sighed, “In the mean time I should get you guys some lunch and then get you down to the stylists. The sooner they can get started the easier it will be in the long run.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely hope the like three people reading this are enjoying this as much as I am. And since no one said anything about how often I post this I'm just gonna continue posting whenever I have time. But also: thanks for reading!!


	6. Dazzling Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My name’s Monday!” The stylist said brightly, “And your name is Bae Joohyun. Look down please.” She said as she continued on with her ministrations. Now she was adding small jewels that looked like pearls in an intricate design to Joohyun’s hairline. “I saw your Reaping by the way. I saw you volunteer for that girl. Rumor has it you barely even knew her.” Joohyun hummed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Nothing to report this time for content/trigger warnings for the chapter. That will start becoming really relevant in the next chapter so please be aware!

Yeojin was right in the end. The stylists for District 3 had apparently been told to go all out since this was a Quarter Quell. They dyed Joohyun’s hair once again so it was a metallic gray-blue color that shimmered when she twirled a bit of it around her finger. This time they left it straight and instead tied up part of it in a sort of ponytail on top of her head. The stylists embedded a small bit of diamond into her cheekbone, like a beauty mark, and coated her eyelids with so much glitter she felt like she couldn’t keep her eyes open. It was then, sitting in the chair while a stylist worked on her, that she had an idea.

“H-hey…” Joohyun cleared her throat when she had the stylists attention, “Do you have any blush?” The stylist blinked.

“I mean, yes?” She said in more of a question than an answer. “I have any kind of blush under the sun. You do know that’s my job, right?” She giggled.

“Yeah…” Joohyun blushed, “What’s your name?” She asked, deciding to take a different approach.

“My name’s Monday!” The stylist said brightly, “And your name is Bae Joohyun. Look down please.” She said as she continued on with her ministrations. Now she was adding small jewels that looked like pearls in an intricate design to Joohyun’s hairline. “I saw your Reaping by the way. I saw you volunteer for that girl. Rumor has it you barely even knew her.” Joohyun hummed.

“It’s true. We worked in the same area of our District, but we were never close.” Joohyun sighed and let her eyes fall shut.

“Aww!” Monday cooed, “That’s so sweet! I mean, I’m not sure I could ever do something like that. My younger sister, Soeun, was completely on board though! She got so excited when I told her I would be designing your clothes this year.”

“Tell her I’m glad to have her support.” Joohyun said quietly. Monday paused.

“I will.” A long moment passed in silence until Joohyun found her voice again.

“So, about that blush….” 

Joohyun would be lying if she said she didn’t feel beautiful. Monday had done an amazing job on her hair and makeup, and the dress she wore was perfect. It was a fiber optic dress, with beautiful lights woven into the fabric. It was a halter top and deep blue, with a soft mostly sheer fabric covering her chest until it came to her waist where the dress fanned out into a dazzling light show. Joohyun loved it. She had never felt so feminine in her entire life.

Monday had also done what Joohyun asked and added quite a bit of blush so her face appeared flushed at first glance. Yeojin even gave her a quick glance backstage while they waited for the interviews to start. Donghyuck quietly asked if she was feeling alright. Joohyun just smiled. It looked like her plan would work out just fine. The first person to be interviewed was Yooa from District 1. She still had a little bit of a limp left over from the incident with the ropes course. She nearly tripped in her high heels on her way out to the interviewer. Park Bogum was doing the interviews this time around, just like how his father had done them before him. It was a tradition, and Bogum was well seasoned as an interviewer.

Yooa and Johnny are both completely charming on the stage, all smiles and just about sweeping Park Bogum off his feet. Yeoreum and Mingyu are different though. Yeoreum’s eyes were hard as she scanned the audience like a predator staring down her prey and Mingyu seems to be clenching his jaw threateningly during the entire interview. Then, it was Donghyuck’s turn. 

Donghyuck’s stylist, Bomi, did a wonderful job. She dyed his hair a deep silver so it almost matched Joohyun’s and dressed him in a smart looking suit. He held his head high and waved confidently as he walked onto the stage and Joohyun couldn’t be more proud. Then she heard the audience laughing and released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. It was important to her that Donghyuck do well, even if her own interview didn’t go as well. She was taking a gamble after all. Then, it was Joohyun’s turn.

She tried not to stumble as she walked onstage, but with the lights blinding her she missed a step. Bogum laughed and beckoned her closer while she feigned a shy bow towards him and then the audience. Bogum threw up his hand dramatically and gave her a microphone as he began to introduce her.

“Alright everybody!” He yelled, “Here is the girl you watched so bravely volunteer and for a woman she barely knew!” It was now or never. “The girl you love, from District-” Bogum jumped as Joohyun gasped and dropped to her knees on the floor. She kept her head down towards the ground to hide her smile as she felt him place a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Oh- Oh my-” Bogum stuttered and Joohyun made sure to let out a soft whine into the microphone while he giggled nervously. “Um- from… from District-” Bogum stuttered and Joohyun swayed gently with his hand still on her shoulder “Well…” Bogum laughed awkwardly and Joohyun decided her little gag was over. 

“I got you!” Joohyun yelled brightly as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and stood back up. Bogum, for his part, looked completely startled. Joohyun decided to take it in stride when she heard some laughter and cheering from the audience. “From District 3 my name is Bae Joohyun!” She called out with a laugh, “And don’t you forget it.” By that point Bogum seemed to have gotten over his shock a little and simply laughed along with her.

“Ladies and gentlemen it seems I’ve been completely fooled by District 3’s own little prankster!” He said good naturedly as he lightly punched her shoulder.

“Well I had to do something to bring up the mood here.” Joohyun said with a smirk. She had absolutely no idea what she was saying. “You guys are so quiet. Let’s get ready for the Hunger Games!” She said and started cheering along with the audience. They seemed to love it, even as she completely talked out of her ass.

“Well,” Bogum stuttered, “You seem almost like you’re excited. Are you perhaps looking forward to the Hunger Games?” Joohyun paused.

“You know what Bogum, I’ve decided that as long as I’m here, in the Capitol with you all and then in the Arena, that my life is short.” The audience cooed, “I might as well live my life to the fullest and have some fun with all of you here! Am I right?” The audience cheered again with her and she laughed. With another charming smile and a big wave Bogum started to usher her away and towards where Donghyuck had left the stage previously. As Joohyun left she could hear the crowd roaring and she knew she had done it.

The second Joohyun was off the stage Donghyuck tackled her into a hug.

“You did so good!” He practically screamed in her ear and Joohyun couldn’t help but laugh.

“Are you sure?” She asked, “I didn’t push it too far?” 

“No no no oh my god no!” He said as he grabbed her wrist, “You were amazing! A genius! Everyone in the Capitol will know who you are now!” He pulled her towards the elevators and back towards their own dormitory and Joohyun couldn’t help but relax. She let herself lean into Donghyuck’s body heat as he babbled on about his own experience on the stage. It was so sweet how deeply excited he seemed to be. She just had to force herself not to think about what the next day would bring and let herself be swept into the excitement.

Yeojin and Taekwoon seemed to be equally excited as Donghyuck had been. Yeojin gave her a big hug and Taekwoon patted her on the back before handing her a small stack of makeup wipes.

“Taekwoon was worried,” Yeojin whispered conspiratorially, “I had to stop him from marching downstairs to go check on you himself.” 

“O-Oh…” Joohyun stuttered as she quickly wiped as much of the makeup off as she could. She met Taekwoon’s eyes across the room. He seemed relieved to see that the flush in her skin was truly just some makeup, so she doubled her efforts to wipe away all of Monday’s artistry. If Joohyun found a way to thank the girl she would have too. 

Yeojin ushered Donghyuck and Joohyun onto the couch where the television was playing a live broadcast of the interviews as they continued on. Taekwoon brought over trays of food for the both of them. It occurred to Joohyun that this was probably the most well fed she had ever been in her life. 

“You guys both did amazing,” Yeojin said as she tucked into her own dinner, “Seriously the Capitol has to be half in love with you by now.”

“Their sponsorship numbers are already up.” Taekwoon supplied quietly as he looked over a small device Joohyun had never seen before, “Especially yours Joohyun. Also you’re trending on the Capitol internet.” Joohyun couldn’t help but smile.

The rest of the interviews continued on the screen, but none were particularly interesting. The tributes from Districts Four and Five came and went. Joohyun also spent a quick moment memorizing the face of the male tribute from District Six- Jeon Wonwoo. She had to watch out for him in the Arena. If he came anywhere near Donghyuck there might be trouble. Then, finally, it was time for Yeri from District Seven’s interview.

Yeri glowed under the stage lights, and Joohyun’s throat went dry. The stylists had dyed Yeri’s hair a darker, deeper brown that complemented her tan skin perfectly. They’d gone for a sexy sort of look- with thick chunky high heels and sheer tights running up her legs with images of trees and branches covering them. She wore what was basically a loose t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, barely hitting the tops of her thighs. Joohyun had looked beautiful, but Yeri looked powerful. She walked with a sort of self-assured, easy confidence that took Joohyun’s breath away.

“Whipped,” Donghyuck muttered with a fake cough as Yeri laughed at something Park Bogum said. Joohyun playfully hit his shoulder while Taekwoon and Yeojin laughed. Things went quiet again, at least, until it was time for District Eleven’s tributes. Taekwoon visibly stiffened when Mark walked onto the stage. He seemed shy, kind of awkward even, but sweet. It brought the familiar nausea back to Joohyun’s stomach. Mark was clever and excited, completely playing along with Park Bogum the entire time. He was a kid by all means. Just like Donghyuck, who was biting his bottom lip as he watched Mark on the screen. Joohyun chuckled to herself. She might be whipped, but so was Donghyuck. The next tribute was Vivi.

Yeojin stood up and left the room while Taekwoon stared unblinking at the screen. She was gorgeous. Her stylists had dyed her hair a pale pink and let it flow down her shoulders in delicate waves. She was dressed simply, in a floral white dress that came in just at the waist. When she smiled at the camera Taekwoon visibly winced.

“So…” Park Bogum started, “I heard that you are, in fact, the wife of one of our lovely victors. True or false?” Vivi giggled.

“It’s true!” Her voice was so soft and genuine it about broke Joohyun’s heart. “Haseul and I have been married for five years now. We got married the second we could.” The audience cooed. Taekwoon looked like he would be sick and, strangely enough, so did Donghyuck.

“You two are just so sweet!” Bogum cheered, “Do you have a message for Haseul? I heard she couldn’t be here tonight.” Vivi nodded and the camera focused on her completely. 

“Haseul… I miss you now. I want to see you so badly. More importantly, I need you to know that…” Vivi took a deep breath, “Everyday I love you, with all my heart. So let’s- let’s love and live together, okay?” Joohyun had to look away when she saw a tear in Vivi’s eyes. Bogum went through the interviews for District Twelve quickly and for that Joohyun was grateful. Yeojin slipped quietly back into the room and Donghyuck snuggled up into Joohyun’s side.

Next the screen shifted to a different broadcast. This time it was Chanhyuk and Suhyun, siblings both from District One who had each won the Hunger Games during their own respective years. They were only there to do the announcements of the rankings of all of the tributes for the year. In general tributes tried to get the highest score possible- a twelve. Some tributes tried to get a lower score to seem weak and turn it against the others, but that tactic had a very low success rate. If anything, the rankings let people like Joohyun and Donghyuck know who to watch out for, who would be the most dangerous in the Arena. 

Suhyun and Chanhyuk were full of energy as they rattled off their list of names and numbers, but Joohyun remained completely frozen. The entire room remained completely frozen as they both joked and goofed around the screen. No one breathed a word until the very end of the broadcast, when all of their names and numbers flashed on the screen one last time.

District One

Johnny (9)

Yooa (10)

District Two

Mingyu (9)

Yeoreum (11)

District Three

Donghyuck (7)

Joohyun (11)

District Four

Lucas (6)

Yuju (8)

District Five

Hoshi (7)

Yeonjung (8)

District Six

Wonwoo (6)

Umji (5)

District Seven

Jooheon (6)

Yeri (9)

District Eight

Jungwoo (5)

Seunghee (7) 

District Nine

Yuta (8)

Jiho (6)

District Ten

Jaehyun (7)

Doyeon (8)

District Eleven

Mark (6)

Vivi (5)

District Twelve

Taeyong (9)

Mimi (2)

“Holy shit…” Joohyun whispered.

“Oh my god!” Yeojin tackled her into a hug, “I’m so proud of you! You did so well oh my god!”

“How did that girl get a 2?” Donghyuck asked, looking just as concerned as Joohyun felt.

“Ten said she was having trouble.” Taekwoon offered solemnly.

“Don’t worry about that right now guys,” Yeojin shook her head, “What matters is that you both did well. Joohyun even ranked at the very top. This is great news.”

“But is that girl going to be okay?” Donghyuck asked frantically, “How did such a low score even happen?” Joohyun reached out to run a hand through his hair in an attempt to comfort while she was wondering the exact same thing. Yeojin sighed.

“I honestly have no idea.” She groaned, “There isn’t time to go ask Ten or anything, I’m sorry.” Donghyuck nodded reluctantly and Joohyun tried to banish the thought from her head. 

“It looks like the girl from 2 got the same score as me.” Joohyun started in an attempt to steer the conversation in a different direction.

“That’s right!” Yeojin said brightly, “It’s a good thing because it seems like you and the Career Pack will both be the ones to look out for in the Arena.” Joohyun looked back down at Donghyuck who was curled up against her. 

Once again, Joohyun couldn’t imagine hurting a single other person. Let alone killing them. She literally couldn’t imagine Donghyuck dying in the Arena. Or herself dying in the Arena. It didn’t seem real. It seemed like it had to be some sort of practical joke, even though she knew it was real. She had spent years watching other girls go to the Capitol and die in the Arena. None of that made a difference though. Maybe it was her brain finally trying to shield her from the ugly truth of the matter, not letting her feel the terror she was certain she was supposed to be feeling. Joohyun wasn’t sure she felt what she was supposed to feel ever since they announced the rules of the Quarter Quell. Yet, there she was. 

Joohyun shivered and Donghyuck looked up at her questioningly, but she just shook her head and went back to petting his hair. Joohyun wasn’t sure if there would really be anything she could do, but in that moment she decided she would do anything she could to make sure at least Donghyuck made it out alive.

That night the only way Joohyun was able to stop herself from being sick was by remembering Taekwoon’s words. She could stay alive. That was something she felt reasonably confident of. She could keep Donghyuck alive. She felt like that was a reasonable goal, no matter how small it was. Taking a deep breath Joohyun tried to banish all other thoughts from her mind. From that moment her only goal would be survival for both her and Donghyuck.

-

The next morning breakfast was a quiet affair. Yeojin tried a couple of times, but it seemed the same reality that crashed on Joohyun had crashed onto Donghyuck. Neither really wanted to talk about how amazing the food was when they would be going into the Arena soon. Taekwoon never even touched his food. Then, Yeojin escorted Joohyun and Taekwoon escorted Donghyuck down to smaller rooms where they could get changed into whatever they would wear in the Arena.

Monday was there, looking chipper as ever, as she herded Joohyun over to a rack of clothes. There were some slim black pants that fit much more comfortably than she ever thought they would and a pair of comfortable hiking boots. Then she was given a black sports bra, which, really she didn’t need but Joohyun figured it would be better not to argue. Then a gray thermal long sleeved t-shirt that fit her body well and a loose sort of short sleeved vest with a hood attached. It was draped carefully over her high ponytail when Monday deemed her ready to go.

“Good luck…” Monday said quietly, “My sister and I will be cheering for you!” Joohyun nodded in thanks and tried to give one last grateful smile. She really was truly grateful for Monday. Then, it was time. Joohyun carefully hoisted herself into a large clear tube when a countdown started. The platform she stood on slowly rose as the countdown continued and for a moment, Joohyun was blinded by the sun. Then, she saw it. The Arena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the arena is up next.... i hope you like what i came up with for that! thank you for waiting so long for them to get here!


	7. Something New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donghyuck was on the farthest platform she could see, with cherry blossom trees waving in the breeze distantly behind him. Joohyun clenched her fists to stop her hands from shaking. Before she could even register the other tributes around her she was startled by movement on her other wide. Mimi, the girl from District 12, had her eyes clamped shut and seemed to flinch violently with every second that passed on their countdown. Then, when the timer still had about 5 seconds, Mimi lifted her foot to step forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so this chapter we have a content warning for graphic depictions of violence, along with specific trigger warnings for head trauma, catastrophic head injuries, some minor character death and vague allusions to sexual violence. 
> 
> Stay safe!

In front of Joohyun was a huge steel structure, looming over everything else. The platform she was on stuttered to a stop, and she let her eyes adjust to the sun a bit. In front of her platform was a long, narrow stone path leading up to the steel structure. She blinked and it started to take shape. The Cornucopia. She was behind it, the weapons and food would be at the mouth of the structure, but on the other side. 

Above their heads a woman’s voice rang through the Arena, announcing the beginning of the countdown. Joohyun had just about a minute. She shook her head and went to tie her hair into a ponytail as she forced her nerves down. It looked like all of the other tributes had a similar stone path to hers, all of them positioned in a circle around the Cornucopia. On either side of her path was a thick sheet of ice, but she could see in the distance where that ice faded into normal water. Behind the tributes who’s platforms were in the normal water, their stone paths continued until they hit land. The land on her right looked like it was full of cherry blossom trees. To her right the land was covered in large oak trees with golden leaves. When she turned around she saw nothing but more ice and snow. 

Donghyuck was on the farthest platform she could see, with cherry blossom trees waving in the breeze distantly behind him. Joohyun clenched her fists to stop her hands from shaking. Before she could even register the other tributes around her she was startled by movement on her other wide. Mimi, the girl from District 12, had her eyes clamped shut and seemed to flinch violently with every second that passed on their countdown. Then, when the timer still had about 5 seconds, Mimi lifted her foot to step forward.

“Wait!” Joohyun screeched, reaching her arm out as if to stop the girl. Mimi jumped violently and whipped her head around before finally her eyes landed on Joohyun, her foot still midair. “They’ll blow you sky high if you step off the platform.” Joohyun stumbled over her words in her haste to explain. Mimi blinked slowly.

“I know that.” She said quietly, just as the countdown ended. Joohyun was so shocked that for a brief second she forgot where she was. Mimi set her foot back down, but didn’t make any other movements. The other tributes had all taken off towards the Cornucopia. Joohyun dashed forward when she saw that Donghyuck had already gotten close to the island the Cornucopia was on. 

She had to get to him. She had to get to him before anybody else got the chance. Going straight across the ice was the fastest way to reach him, and even though it was terrifying she sprinted on. Donghyuck was trying to grab a backpack when she got to him. So she didn’t even stop. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away towards one of the stone paths. Up ahead the cherry blossom trees shifted and she almost let herself relax until suddenly Donghyuck tugged on her sleeve.

“Wait, Joohyun!” He yelled as they abruptly came to a stop. “Yeri!” He called, pointing back to the Cornucopia, “She needs help.” Back by the Cornucopia, at the edge of the water, Yeri was fighting back against what looked like Yooa. Joohyun swallowed harshly.

“Go,” She went around Donghyuck and pushed him forward towards the trees, “Hide, don’t come out until I’m back.” She called over her shoulder as she took off back towards the Cornucopia. Up ahead she could see a pool of blood gathering and mixing into the white snow that covered the ice. Mimi didn’t seem to have moved. The other members of the Career Pack didn’t look like they were around, but Yooa and Yeri were in an intense fight. Yeri had gotten a hold of an axe, but Yooa had a greatsword balanced in her hands and a manic grin on her face. Yeri was trying to get away but she looked like she couldn’t find her footing or her balance. Yooa just kept advancing, slicing through the air over and over with her sword, until Yeri seemed to notice Joohyun coming and subtly tried to maneuver so Yooa’s back was turned to Joohyun. Just as Joohyun got to the rocky island the Cornucopia was on Yeri tripped, stumbled over the bloody head of one of Yooa’s other victims. In a moment of sheer desperation Joohyun leaped forward and tackled Yooa to the ground. She screamed out loud as she landed harshly on her front, her head bouncing grotesquely off the rocks. A bit of blood spilled into her hair. Joohyun froze, her hands hovering over Yooa’s limp body. 

“I’m sorry-” Joohyun gasped, her eyes wide.

“Joohyun!” Yeri snapped abruptly in front of her face, but Joohyun could barely react. “Joohyun come on, we have to go.” She said frantically and started manhandling Joohyun back to her feet.

“I’m sorry…” Joohyun repeated before taking a deep breath and dashing back in the direction she had shoved Donghyuck.

Donghyuck was waiting for them just within the tree line. Joohyun collapsed onto her knees and he gently rubbed her back as she panted, harshly forcing air into her lungs. 

“I’m sorry” She gasped out, fighting back the tears in her eyes. Yeri squatted down into her field of vision and gently wiped at the tears that fell.

“I didn’t hear a canon go off,” Yeri supplied quietly, “She might not have died.”

“I hurt her though!” Joohyun whimpered and Donghyuck flinched awkwardly.

“She killed Umji.” Yeri said simply. “Did you get any supplies?” She asked quietly, directing the question more towards Donghyuck.

“I got a backpack,” He sighed, “That’s about it. There’s a water bottle, a thermal jacket, and some rope.”

“Good,” Joohyun said shakily. She rubbed harshly at the tears on her cheeks. The feeling in her chest, like there was an open wound bleeding and gushing inside her, wasn’t useful. She made up her mind. She would mourn after the Games. Until then… “We should keep going. I don’t trust the Careers being that close.”

“Are you sure?” Yeri bit her lip, “We can rest.”

“I’m sure,” Joohyun nodded awkwardly just as they heard a scream followed by howling laughter coming from the Cornucopia.

“Should we check it out?” Donghyuck asked quietly, ducking down lower to hide behind the trees. 

“It’ll be fine if we stick to the trees, right?” Yeri asked and Joohyun nodded.

“Right.” She risked a quick glance back to where they had left Yooa. Yeri and Donghyuck started through the trees and Joohyun shook her head to clear it before following them. They stuck to the trees as they carefully made their way towards the sound of the screaming. They followed the edge of the cherry blossoms, as close to the shoreline as they thought they could risk until it started to give way to big oak trees covered in snow. Distantly Joohyun thought this was only the second time she had ever seen snow. Academy had taken her and some other students to visit the Capitol one year. It never snowed in District 3, but it did in the Capitol. She thought it was beautiful then. Now, the snow was stained with red. 

That was when Joohyun saw the source of the screaming. Doyeon, from District 10, was crawling across the ice frantically. There was a long trail of blood on the ice behind her, leading all the way back to Mimi’s platform. Mimi stood stock still on her platform, watching impassively as the Career Pack circled Doyeon. They were far away from where Joohyun and the others hid, but Joohyun still thought she could see a tear drip down Doyeon’s cheeks as she crawled. The screaming only started up again once Johnny took two huge steps towards her and raised a medieval style steel mace over his head, bringing it down hard on her back. Blood splurted up out of Doyeon’s back, splashing onto Johnny’s cheeks. Distantly Joohyun registered that Yeri had covered Donghyuck’s eyes. Joohyun wished she could look away as Mingyu laughed. Yeoreum stood next to Mimi, watching carefully as Mingyu approached Doyeon predatorially. 

“P-Please!” Doyeon screamed, frantically trying to kick herself forward as Mingyu approached. 

“Please! Help me!” Johnny mocked as Mingyu pressed his boot into Doyeon’s back, grinding down on her injury until she nearly choked up blood. Mingyu abruptly grabbed both of Doyeon’s wrist, easily brushing it aside as she tried so hard to fight against him. There was a sickening crunch followed by high pitched laughter as he kept his foot on her back, yanking both her arms back by the wrists aggressively. Doyeon’s whimpers went silent. A canon sounded in the distance. Joohyun realized that Donghyuck’s eyes were no longer covered, but she didn’t have the wherewithal to cover them again.

“What should we do with this one?” Yeoreum called loudly, drawing both of the boys back to her. She ran an almost gentle hand across Mimi’s cheek. Mimi only stared blankly as she was slowly surrounded by all three of the Career Pack. Yeoreum said something quietly to the girl while Mingyu used a long metal bar to hit the back of her knees. Mimi fell, but she didn’t let out a sound. She winced, but kept her eyes locked on Yeoreum’s. Johnny brought his mace down hard against Mimi’s stomach, but her eyes never once left Yeoreum. 

“You’re not gonna beg?” Yeoreum screamed in the poor girls face, loud enough Joohyun

thought it might have echoed through the Arena. “You’re not gonna fight back?” Yeoreum had a small electric device- a taser, Joohyun’s mind supplied. She jammed it harshly into Mimi’s collar bone. “You’re not gonna do anything?” Yeoreum yelled as Mimi screeched in pain and for a moment, Joohyun held her breath. Mimi didn’t fight though. She screamed until Yeoreum finally let up with the taser, and after a long beat of silence she returned to her silent stares. Joohyun just barely made out Johnny saying something that made Mingyu laugh, while Yeoreum’s eyes went dark.

She pocketed the taser and held the knife to Mimi’s cheek this time. She dug the blade in next to Mimi’s eye and harshly pulled it down, leaving a long stream of blood running down the girl’s face. If Mimi reacted Joohyun couldn’t hear it. Donghyuck gasped and Yeri immediately covered his mouth with her hand. It didn’t catch the attention of the Career Pack though. Mimi’s gaze hadn’t wavered. Yeoreum screeched in anger and slapped her across the cheek, covering herself in blood in the process.

“Fucking defend yourself!” Yeoreum said as she grabbed Mimi by the hair and threw her to the ground. She rested her boot on top of Mimi’s skull. “Well? Fucking do something!”

“You’re gonna die and you’re not gonna put up a fight?” Johnny slammed the mace into Mimi’s back and they heard another loud, terrifying crunch. 

“Not gonna beg for mercy?” Mingyu asked playfully, “We love a toy just as much as anyone else.” When Mimi didn’t reply he scoffed and started to walk away. “Finish her off, she’s no fun.” He said as he made his way back to the Cornucopia. Johnny followed silently. Yeoreum scowled as she glared down at Mimi. She lifted her foot and Joohyun dove for Donghyuck, pulling him out of Yeri’s arms and into her own. She held his head against her chest, covering his eyes and ears as much as possible to shield him from the bloody mess Yeoreum was making. Yeoreum covered herself in blood. She kept going until the crunching under her foot dissolved into soft squishing noises. There was so little of Mimi left that it looked like she had been beheaded. The canon sounded long before Yeoreum was done. Yeoreum spat harshly on Mimi’s lifeless body before she walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter!! I actually ended up having to rewrite it so it ended up taking me a while. Next week is my fall break from college classes though, so hopefully I can post quite a bit then! If you want any updates you can follow me on twitter @babysharkmp3


	8. Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Distantly Joohyun realized they had been walking for hours. She was starting to get hungry. A dark part of herself wondered if they removed the bodies of the dead tributes so no one would get desperate enough to turn to their fallen friends for food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so this chapter we have a tw for mentioned cannibalism, mentioned rape/non-con, misogynist language and a MASSIVE trigger warning for suicide.

The only thing that stopped Joohyun from being sick right there and then was her concern for Donghyuck. She glanced over and saw Yeri’s eyes harsh with a type of anger that she’d never seen before. Yeri went to stand before Joohyun grabbed her by the wrist and held her down.

“Don’t,” Joohyun whispered, “Don’t go after Yeoreum. It’s not worth it.”

“How can it not be worth it?” Yeri seethed, “You saw what she did to that girl. You saw what that psycho bitch is capable of. Anyone who can do something like that… they don’t deserve to live.” Yeri shifted her axe in her hand.

“We’re in the Hunger Games now.” Joohyun swallowed harshly, “So is she.”

“So you’re saying it’s fine if people turn into fucking animals when they’re in here?” Yeri asked, barely concealed disgust on her features.

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Joohyun sighed, “I’m saying that we’re playing a game. So is Yeoreum. She has a different strategy than we do. Going after her right now is a mistake. She’s putting on a show for the camera. I say we avoid her for now.”

“She… She didn’t have to be so cruel.” Yeri’s cry was covered by the sound of the hovercraft appearing to take the body.

“You’re not wrong.” Joohyun took a deep breath, “But by the end of this we’re all going to have blood on our hands.” There was a long moment of silence. Donghyuck was shaking slightly in Joohyun’s arms. She attempted to comfort him by running a hand through his hair.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” Yeri whispered eventually.

“What do you mean?” Joohyun asked, “Didn’t you volunteer?” Yeri went quiet again before pushing herself to her feet.

“Let’s go. I want to put some distance between us and the Career Pack.” Yeri said and Joohyun nodded in acquiescence. She helped Donghyuck to his feet and tried to offer him a reassuring smile before they headed out into the cherry blossom trees.

The cherry blossom forrest grew thicker and thicker as they went. They put the Cornucopia at their backs and moved deeper into the forrest, hoping that it would give them the advantage to be far away from where they last saw the Career Pack. The group was completely silent as they walked, which left Joohyun alone to her thoughts. 

They survived the traditional bloodbath at the beginning of the game. Hopefully the Career Pack had managed to take out a lot of other tributes. Even as she thought it Joohyun cringed. She hated to think of it as a game of numbers. Normally it was soothing- the numbers put some distance between her and whatever was happening. This time though, all she could think of was the way Mimi’s body had twitched just before her canon sounded and the life left her body. Yeoreum hadn’t even bothered to wipe away the blood that was on her cheek. At the same time though, it meant there was one less person in the Arena trying to kill them. She had to be grateful for that, even if she didn’t want to be. 

Distantly Joohyun realized they had been walking for hours. She was starting to get hungry. A dark part of herself wondered if they removed the bodies of the dead tributes so no one would get desperate enough to turn to their fallen friends for food.

“Hold on…” Donghyuck said quietly, rousing Joohyun from her thoughts. Ahead of them was a sheer cliff face that gave Joohyun pause. They had been traveling for so long that the sky was starting to get dark, but the sky looked different ahead of them. Donghyuck seemed to have the same thought as he silently picked up a stone. Yeri watched with rapt attention as he tossed the stone casually towards the cliff and effortlessly hopped out of the way as the stone was thrown back towards them.

“Does that mean we’re at the edge?” Yeri asked quietly and Donghyuck nodded. “Should

we set up camp for the night then? We know we’re covered from one angle at the very least.”

“Yeah, that’s probably the smartest option.” Joohyun said as she dropped unceremoniously to sit on the forest floor. “Do you think it’ll get cold tonight?”

“I hope not…” Yeri bit her lip.

“I don’t think so,” Donghyuck swallowed harshly, “It doesn’t normally freeze overnight in the spring, right? Or at least not when it’s cherry blossom season. That’s more of a summer thing.”

“I guess…” Joohyun raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“I was trying to find Yeojin and… I found her talking to the Head Gamemaker. They mentioned something about the four seasons…” Donghyuck turned towards where he thought a camera might be and gave a slight bow, “Sorry for eavesdropping!”

“Well, it seems like it was good information,” Yeri shrugged, “If the Arena really is organized around the four seasons-”

Just then they were interrupted by loud, majestic music playing over the purple tinged sky. Then, the canons started. Pictures of the fallen tributes shown brightly in the sky as a canon went off for each one of them. Yuju from District Four. Hoshi from Five. Wonwoo and Umji from Six. Jooheon from Seven. The sight of his picture in the sky made Yeri let out a strangled noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob. She chose to bury her face in her hands after that point, unable to look at the sky as the faces of the dead were shown. Next was Yuta from Nine. Doyeon from Ten. Then Mimi from Twelve. Seeing Mimi’s face in the sky elicited a reaction from Joohyun she wasn’t expecting. It finally hit then, as she sat among the cherry blossoms and stared up at the void of the twilight sky. Those people were dead. They were gone.

Yuju’s best friend turned wife was probably at home, sobbing. Yuta’s little sister would have to drop out of school without her brother to support her. Doyeon’s entire family… they loved her, but that wasn’t enough to protect her. All of those people would have to survive on their own now. Joohyun didn’t even know too much about the other tributes, but she knew they all had lives. They had families. They had people they loved and protected. There were people who loved and protected them.

All of that was gone.

Not for the first time Joohyun wondered what the point of the Hunger Games even was. Families were destroyed. Livelihoods were destroyed. No one was safe. Not in Panem at least.

When Joohyun laid her head down on a soft bed of moss that night she couldn’t shake the image of Mimi from her mind’s eye. No matter what Yeoreum or the others did to her she stood tall. Joohyun couldn’t decide if that was brave or stupid.

The next time Joohyun woke up it was Yeri who shook her awake. The sun was already starting to come up, casting the sky in a beautiful navy blue color. Joohyun shook her head a few times to wake up and take her place. The other two had held watch overnight, now it was her turn to make sure they could get some sleep before the sun was truly upon them. Yeri put her head down and was asleep in seconds. Joohyun couldn’t help but smile at the sight- Donghyuck and Yeri were curled up together, fast asleep and ignorant to the world around them.

Then Joohyun heard it. Footsteps. Two sets. They were farther away, but getting closer. Joohyun kept low to the ground as she tried to follow the direction of where they were coming from, taking care to stay as hidden as low to the ground as possible. Then she heard a loud thud, and what sounded like muffled yelling. She was crawling through the underbrush when she very nearly crawled out right in front of them, but caught herself just in time.

Yeoreum was straddling a girl- Yeonjung it looked like, from District Five. Yeoreum seemed out of breath, pushing her silver hair back with one hand while the other was over Yeonjung’s mouth. Yeonjung seemed to be shaking in fear, trying desperately to crawl her way out from under Yeoreum. Yeoreum was stronger.

“Shut up!” Yeoreum hissed before glancing around, as if she was waiting for someone. “Listen- the others are around. If they hear you, they’ll take you. I can’t help you then.” Yeonjung yelled louder at that, at least until Yeoreum landed a harsh slap on her cheek. Yeonjung went silent immediately, staring up at Yeoreum with pure unadulterated fear. “Johnny wants a toy. You’re going to be that toy if they find you.”

“Please…” Yeonjung whimpered.

“Yeoreum!” Mingyu’s voice sounded through the forest, “You find the bitch yet?” Yeoreum cursed and glanced back down at Yeonjung.

“It’s your choice. Do you want to be their toy or do you wanna die?” Yeoreum said in no uncertain terms.

“Can’t you let me go?” Yeonjung whimpered desperately and Yeoreum shook her head solemnly.

“They’ll find you.” Yeoreum sighed, “Their first choice was gone, so now you’re it. They’re going to keep tracking you down until they catch you, or you die.” Yeoreum took a deep breath, “I’m sorry.”

“I won’t be their toy.” Yeonjung said, trying to keep her voice steady as she did.

“I won’t make you.” Yeoreum replied, before pulling a small knife from her back pocket. “We’re going to-” She had to take a deep breath then, “We’re going to slit your wrists okay? Make it look like you did it to yourself. Can you do it or do you need me too?”

“I can’t…” Yeonjun stuttered out as a wave of sobs overtook her small body. Yeoreum for her part got off of Yeonjung’s smaller body and repositioned them so Yeonjung’s back was up against Yeoreum’s chest. Yeonjung sobbed frantically as Yeoreum pressed the knife into Yeonjung’s hand and guided it to her opposite wrist. Yeoreum guided Yeonjung through slashing both wrists, mumbling soft reassurances to the other girl all the while.

“I’m sorry…” Yeoreum repeated when the process was done, pressing a soft kiss to Yeonjung’s hair.

“I didn’t want to die!” Yeonjung cried, a little too loudly if the nervous look on Yeoreum’s face was enough to go by, “I didn’t want this to happen…” 

“It’s okay now,” Yeoreum mumbled, “Close your eyes okay? Get some rest.” She said as she hummed gently into Yeonjung’s ear. They sat like that until Yeonjung’s cries began to die down. Joohyun was too terrified to move a muscle, scared to disturb the silent and intimate scene before her.

“Yo!” Yeoreum’s head snapped up as Johnny and Mingyu suddenly burst through the trees, “Fuck!” Mingyu exclaimed, eyes going wide as he took in the scene before him.

“She did it to herself right before I caught up to her.” Yeoreum said quietly as she gently moved to lay Yeonjung down. In the distance one of the canons went off.

“Fuck man,” Johnny ran a hand through his hair, “Shitty luck. Guess we’ll have to get

back to looking for that chick from Three.”

“No,” Yeoreum snapped, “We need to focus on eliminating the other tributes. Put your head before your dick for once.”

“She’s got a point…” Mingyu said uneasily.

“Whatever,” Johnny rolled his eyes, “Let’s get out of here before the hovercraft shows

up.” They bickered as they wandered back farther into the forest. The noise of the hovercraft had Joohyun turning back to get back to her group. By the time she got back to them Donghyuck and Yeri were awake.

“What happened?” Donghyuck asked blearily as he rubbed his eyes. Joohyun didn’t know what to say as she sat next to him and curled up against him. He seemed totally content to wrap an arm around her comfortingly. Joohyun knew they could both hear the sounds of the hovercraft. No one said a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's my finals season so I'm gonna be kinda busy, but I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on chapter length? I said before I have the majority of this written I'm just editing at the moment. I just wasn't sure if y'all wanted like longer chapters, shorter chapters, no change? Comment and let me know!
> 
> As usual I'm on twitter @babysharkmp3
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


	9. Wake Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We need to get food.” Donghyuck supplied.  
> “More than that we need water.” Joohyun sighed. Just then there was the sound of a canon going off. Joohyun’s head shot up and she frantically looked around to see if they were in any immediate danger, but it seemed relatively quiet.   
> “Should we go see where that was?” Donghyuck asked quietly.  
> “I don’t know,” Joohyun bit her lip.  
> “I think I hear the hovercraft coming.” Yeri supplied, “Maybe whoever it was had supplies.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright this chapter we have another MASSIVE trigger warning for suicide, one for decapitation, hand injuries, head injuries, and obviously some character death.

After a long period of silence Yeri got to her feet. She held her hand out to help Joohyun up and Donghyuck was quick to follow.

“We should keep moving.” Yeri said quietly, “I think Spring is one of the safest places to be, but I’m sure the other tributes have figured that out.”

“We need to get food.” Donghyuck supplied.

“More than that we need water.” Joohyun sighed. Just then there was the sound of a canon going off. Joohyun’s head shot up and she frantically looked around to see if they were in any immediate danger, but it seemed relatively quiet. 

“Should we go see where that was?” Donghyuck asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Joohyun bit her lip.

“I think I hear the hovercraft coming.” Yeri supplied, “Maybe whoever it was had supplies.” 

“Maybe,” Donghyuck shrugged. Part of Joohyun desperately didn’t want to follow them. She didn’t want to see another dead body. Yeri and Donghyuck had already taken off towards the sound of the incoming hovercraft though so she had no choice but to follow. As Yeri was leading them the air started to get warmer, and the wind harsher. Periodically Joohyun thought she felt sand on her cheeks. Suddenly Yeri threw out an arm to stop them. 

Something about the hovercraft sounded wrong, like it was breaking down. When Joohyun glanced up she had to hold back a scream. It was Seunghee, from District 8. Her eyes were wide open in the claws of the hovercraft, staring down listlessly on them. There was a thick rope wrapped around her neck, which was bent at a terrifying angle. Joohyun grabbed Donghyuck by the shoulder and pulled him around so his face was pressed against her neck. He didn’t protest, instead shaking slightly in her hold. Then she saw the problem the hovercraft was having. The rope around Seunghee’s neck was still wrapped around a thick branch of one of the cherry blossom trees. 

Yeri ran forward towards the base of the tree where a small orange backpack laid. The hovercraft strained against the weight of the rope and then, in one swift movement, took off at full speed. Seunghee’s head fell to the ground.

It landed a couple of feet away from Yeri who stared straight ahead as she ran back past it, ushering Donghyuck and Joohyun away from the scene as quickly as she could. Joohyun let herself be pushed away. She couldn’t scream. She couldn’t cry. She couldn’t even think. All that played in her mind over and over again was the image of Seunghee’s head, falling to the earth. Her body was reduced to an inconvenience for the Capitol. It didn’t matter to them. They didn’t even bother to cut the rope. They just collected the body and whisked it away. Again, Joohyun wondered if the reason they took the bodies was to prevent them from eating each other.

“Joohyun?” Yeri asked quietly and Joohyun jumped harshly, “Sorry, sorry.” Yeri whispered. “We’re close to Summer now. I found a canteen of water in Seung- in the bag I found.” Yeri swallowed harshly.

“What was that sound?” Donghyuck asked, eyes on the ground. “There was a snap. Then the hovercraft was gone.”

“Don’t-” Joohyun winced, “Don’t worry about it.” Donghyuck nodded but his hands were visibly shaking. Somewhere nearby they heard a scream. Donghyuck pulled away from Joohyun.

“I think that was Mark…” he said quietly though his eyes were focused on the direction the scream was coming from. When they heard another scream Donghyuck took off. Joohyun couldn’t pull him back in time before he was sprinting towards where she assumed Summer was. Joohyun and Yeri took off after him.

Finally they came to the edge of the cherry blossom forest and in front of them was a massive sand dune. It dipped down and at the bottom, in the bowl, was a boy the same age as Donghyuck desperately hanging onto an older woman as they limped along.

“Mark!” Donghyuck yelped as soon as he saw the figures. He took off into the sand and Yeri followed suit to get to the two people as they tried desperately to get up the hill and into the trees. On the other side of the dune was a lone woman holding a bow and arrow. She was uneasy on her feet, stumbling through the sand but she was still trying to take aim.. Joohyun didn’t think, she just started running toward the woman. As she got closer Joohyun realized that this was Yooa. She had some blood in her hair and something about her gaze was unfocused. Yooa didn’t seem to hear Joohyun until she was much closer, but the sand eventually gave her away. Yooa redirected her arrow towards Joohyun. She breathed a sigh of relief. Now the arrow wasn’t pointed toward Donghyuck, but she had a different problem.

The look in Yooa’s eyes was that of a caged animal. Joohyun had never seen such feral anger and fear in a human being before. Yooa’s hands shook almost uncontrollably as Joohyun stepped closer slowly.

“Yooa…” She said softly, “Put down the arrow, okay?” Yooa growled. “Let me take a look at your head, okay?” Joohyun tried, “That looks like it hurts a lot. We could make it better.” Yooa seemed to pause for a moment, blinking uncomprehendingly at Joohyun. Joohyun held her hands up, trying to show that she was unarmed.

“Y-you did this.” Yooa stuttered out eventually.

“You’re right. I’m s-” Just then Yooa let the arrow fly. By that point Joohyun was within a few steps of her, but Yooa’s hands were shaking so badly she missed. Joohyun stopped and looked over at her right hand.

There was a silver arrow straight through the palm of her hand. The arrow had gone straight through the meat of her hand, thankfully missing any bones. The small feathers on the end of the arrow tickled Joohyun’s palm. She screamed. 

Joohyun had never been in pain like that. She wasn’t sure what to even do. All she could do was scream as she looked down at her hand. Yooa stood stock still, as if she was just as shocked as Joohyun. There was a beat of silence before Joohyun used her left hand to snatch the bow away from Yooa and, once she was unarmed, landed a strong punch on Yooa’s cheek.

“You fucking bitch!” Joohyun screamed, “You fucking bitch look what you fucking did you motherfucker!” She screamed at the top of her lungs as Yooa laid in the sand, looking up at Joohyun with a dazed look in her eye. “You shot my fucking hand!” Yooa’s eyes weren’t focused. All she did was stare blankly as Joohyun screamed.

“J-Joohyun?” A soft voice called.

“What?” She snapped as she whirled around. Donghyuck flinched backwards briefly before visibly steeling himself and coming closer.

“You’re hurt.” He said evenly, “Let me take care of it.” Joohyun let out a whimper and he smiled sympathetically. “Come on, the others are in the tree line.” He said gently as he reached for her.

“Yooa-” Joohyun tried to wipe the tears away as they flowed out of her eyes, “We can’t leave her here.”

“Okay,” Donghyuck smiled reassuringly, “I’ll come back for her, but for now let’s take a look at that hand okay?” All Joohyun could do was nod weakly. 

When they made it back to the treeline Mark was sitting next to a badly injured Vivi while Yeri tried to tend to her wounds. Donghyuck carefully sat Joohyun down and said something quietly to Mark before they both took off back towards where they had left Yooa. Vivi gasped quietly when Yeri put a little too much pressure on one of her wounds. There was a small puddle of blood around Vivi and Yeri’s hands were shaking so hard that she could barely seem to move. 

Vivi had been shot by arrows, that much was clear. There was a small pile of four arrows laying on the ground next to them. Joohyun couldn’t decide if it was a miracle or not that Vivi had survived so long. Yeri was tending to one of the wounds on Vivi’s arms when Joohyun spotted the true source of blood- there was a massive gash in Vivi’s stomach. When Joohyun bend to take a closer look she realised she could almost see the dirt floor of the forest through the hole left by the arrow. Using her teeth and her one good hand Joohyun tore off as much fabric as she could from her hooded cape and used it to try and stop the bleeding. Vivi didn’t flinch, even when Joohyun knew she was pressing too hard. Just then Mark and Donghyuck returned and gently placed a limp Yooa down on the other side of Joohyun.

“M-mom?” Mark’s voice cracked. He dove to the ground next to Vivi’s limp form. “Mom? Can you hear me?” He asked frantically, his hands running over her face, “Mom?!” Vivi stirred just barely, one of her hands started to reach towards Mark but she didn’t seem to have enough strength in her so Joohyun reached over and guided the hand into Mark’s. “Mom please get up…” Mark whimpered. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks and Joohyun’s heart broke for him. Yeri had stopped any attempt at bandaging Vivi up. She sat stock still as she watched Vivi struggle. 

“M-” Vivi coughed before she could get the word out and Mark let out a strangled sob.

“It’s o-okay Mom.” He shuddered, “It’s okay.” Mark whispered as he held her hand close, “I love you.” He said just as the canon boomed in the distance. Without a word Mark let Vivi’s hand fall and got to his feet. “Joohyun… you’re hurt.”

“Mark…” Donghyuck started but Mark just shook his head.

“It’s okay.” He swallowed thickly, “There’s nothing we can do.” Yeri and Donghyuck moved the body far enough away that the hovercraft wouldn’t have a hard time retrieving it while Mark gently took a hold of Joohyun’s hand. He had to break off a part of the arrow in order to fish it out of her skin.

“She was your mom?” Joohyun asked quietly as he worked to bandage her up.

“Yeah,” Mark swallowed, “at least kind of. “My parents died, so Haseul and Vivi took me in. They were the closest I ever had to a family.” By that point Mark had finished wrapping a bandage tight around Joohyun’s hand. He went to stand up but Joohyun used her good hand to grab him around the shoulders and pull him into a tight hug. She didn’t have any words she could offer, but she could do a hug. That would have to suffice.

“Hey guys…” Donghyuck called quietly after Vivi’s body had been picked up, “What are we going to do about her?” He asked as he pointed to Yooa.

“I think she has a concussion.” Yeri shrugged, “Plus that’s a pretty gnarly gash on the back of her head. It’s a miracle she’s survived this long.”

“If we just leave her she’ll probably die.” Mark shrugged. Joohyun bit her lip.

“Should we put her out of her misery?” Joohyun asked quietly as she glanced over at Yooa. She was almost catatonic at that point, gaze wandering around the area listlessly. The blood seemed to only be seeping farther into her hair. Yeri sighed.

“You’re right.” She said and without hesitation came up behind Yooa with her axe and dealt the final blow. Donghyuck gasped. Mark flinched when the canon sounded once again. Yeri swallowed hard before she continued, “Come on. We should keep going with our original plan. Let’s get to the Fall season.” She said before helping Joohyun to her feet gently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all enjoyed!! i'll try and post the next chapter in the next couple of days, but if you want updates come find me on twitter @babysharkmp3


	10. Blue Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joohyun felt sick again just thinking about it. Her head was pounding, the wound in her hand was throbbing, her entire body felt like it was made up of a thin layer of static. Joohyun had never felt so exhausted in her entire life. Yeri wasn’t back yet, but she could hear her talking to the boys up in the trees. So, Joohyun decided she would be safe if she laid her head down to rest. Just for a little while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter we have a trigger warning for panic attacks, referenced rape/non-con, loss of limb injuries, mentioned starvation, and also I felt it was worth noting that a main character kills another tribute in this chapter, just in case that would be triggering! Also a head gets crushed, but it happens off-screen so. There's that.

They decided to cut through Summer to get to Fall. Now it was later in the day, the sun was high in the sky but Joohyun still shivered as the hovercraft passed over them to get to Yooa’s body. Mark had taken the bow and arrows off her body and Donghyuck found a bit more food that they took with them. Yeri and Joohyun took the lead while Mark and Donghyuck followed several feet behind them. Mark and Donghyuck were talking quietly between themselves when Joohyun took a deep breath and used her good hand to grab Yeri’s hand in hers. Yeri startled but didn’t pull her hand away.

“You did the right thing you know.” Joohyun said quietly, hoping the boys wouldn’t hear. Yeri didn’t say anything, but she did squeeze Joohyun’s hand. 

“Hey Joohyun…” Mark called out softly, “You volunteered, right?”

“Yeah,” Joohyun hummed, “I volunteered for a girl that was in my work unit. Why do you ask?”

“Oh.” He said, surprised, “You didn’t plan to volunteer?”

“No…” She trailed off, “I had no idea I would even be eligible this year.”

“Joohyun was just really brave.” Donghyuck said with a hint of pride in his voice. Joohyun laughed.

“I mean, I hear that a lot but I’m still not sure if I was being brave or just really stupid.”

“It was brave.” Yeri assured quietly.

“Thank you.” Joohyun grinned, “You all volunteered too, didn’t you? There were a lot of volunteers this year.” A blanket of silence seemed to fall over the group. The other three tributes all glanced back and forth at each other and Joohyun silently wondered if she had said something wrong. No one said a word though and eventually their conversation was lost to the sandy Summer winds. 

-

By the time they reached the Fall they had almost run out of water and the sun was beginning to set for the night. Joohyun was so relieved to finally see trees that she almost ran for the treeline. The only thing that stopped her was consideration for the rest of her little group. 

They used a stone or two to check where the Arena perimeter was before setting up camp just inside the treeline. They couldn’t start a fire, but Donghyuck wrapped the thermal jacket around Joohyun’s shoulders and then they all curled up together for a little while before Joohyun was scared she would fall asleep.

“I’ll take first watch tonight.” Donghyuck said softly as he detangled himself from their warm little huddle. All Joohyun could do was smile gratefully as she nodded off to sleep.

When Joohyun woke up again the sun was just barely starting to rise. Yeri shook her shoulder gently and smiled when she finally opened her eyes.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Yeri chuckled, “We’re going to try and find some water.” Joohyun yawned and nodded sleepily. “Cute,” Yeri muttered so quietly Joohyun almost didn’t hear it.

“Stop flirting!” Donghyuck whined as Joohyun pushed herself up to sit, “It’s not allowed.”

“Why not?” Joohyun smiled at the little pout on his face.

“It’s too cute!” He insisted as he helped her get to her feet, “I can’t stand it, it’s too adorable and that’s that.” Joohyun tried and failed to hide the blush rising on her cheeks but that just made him laugh at her.

“Hyuck leave them alone.” Mark admonished quietly and Donghyuck just shrugged.

“I was wondering, Mark,” Joohyun started, “What’s District Eleven like?”

“It’s hot as hell.” Mark joked lightheartedly, “It rains a lot though, I guess that’s why they have us farming so much.”

“It’s not Panem’s breadbasket for nothing.” Donghyuck supplied.

“Yeah…” Mark sighed, “I used to work in the fields. Usually fruit but it depended on the day. So did everyone else I was close with.”

“Makes sense.” Joohyun shrugged, “They keep us in our own pods back in Three.”

“Did you ever know your parents?” Mark asked hesitantly, “I heard a rumor that in Three they take kids away to go study at an academy instead of staying with their family.”

“That’s not true!” Donghyuck laughed, “I knew my parents my entire life.”

“Well…” Joohyun winced, “Some of us got taken to a sort of special school. We were all really young though. It was before we could even be part of the Reaping.” She explained, “I don’t really know my family because of it. I mostly just knew the people studying the same thing as me.”

“That’s so weird…” Donghyuck trailed off, “I grew up in my parents house. They worked in production, so I did too. What about you guys?”

“I, well…” Mark swallowed harshly, “There wasn’t a lot of food to go around so my parents would just give it all to me. When they died Haseul and Vivi took me in. They didn’t have a lot at first but after Haseul won the Games things got a lot better.” He stared straight down as they walked.

“Wait but District Eleven is agriculture?” Joohyun stopped in her tracks, “How was there not enough food?”

“It was all for the Capitol, not for us.” Mark shrugged and kept walking. Joohyun followed behind, at a loss for words.

“The same thing happened to me.” Yeri supplied with a shrug, “Except I didn’t get taken in. I had to go to an orphanage but it wasn’t so bad,” She smiled, “They had me out in the lumberyards earlier because of it. I gotta say, it’s weird but I actually kind of liked it. There’s something cool about being able to take something down that’s so much bigger than you.”

“You’re such a nerd!” Donghyuck said playfully and Yeri bickered back. It was honestly sweet, watching the two of them lead the way forward, teasing each other the whole way. Mark seemed to think so too. The sullen look on his face had faded and been replaced with a delicate smile. In a way it set Joohyun at ease. Mark would be okay. At least, if he won.

Not for the first time Joohyun was struck by the realization that only one of them would make it out of this alive. Donghyuck and Yeri were playing so sweetly in front of her. Donghyuck with his bright eyes and so much energy and warmth in his voice. Yeri was the same, she was so lively and fun and ready to greet the world. They both had so much to give. Mark had so much to give.

Mimi probably had just as much to give to the world. So did Vivi. Yeonjung. Seunghee. Yooa even, during the interviews had been so charming and talented. During training it had become clear very quickly that she had a sort of innate talent. Whatever she tried a hand at she succeeded. Now she was dead. Joohyun imagined what Panem could be like if instead of sentencing Yooa to death the Capitol had used her talents. Any of their talents for that matter. At that moment a thought struck her.

The others kept walking but Joohyun stopped dead in her tracks. She realized, as she watched the others, that there was no point to any of it. One person would make it out of the Arena alive. No matter what she said or did, it could only ever be one. If it was Donghyuck, he would be broken. He wouldn’t be the same Donghyuck that was in front of her. If it was Joohyun well… what was the point then? What would she even do? She could follow Taeyeon’s route and stop interacting with the world at large. She could follow Yeojin’s route and try to keep her future tributes alive. The odds would never be in her favor. The system would never let them be in her favor. There was no point. There was no way out. There never was to begin with. 

Joohyun didn’t realize she was on the ground until she registered Donghyuck crouching in front of her.

“You’re okay… Joohyun can I touch you?” He asked carefully and quietly, waiting to reach for her shoulders until she nodded frantically. “Alright, you’re okay Joohyun. Can you breathe with me?” He asked softly and all she could do was shake her head.

“The odds- they’re never in our favor!” She choked out. She hadn’t realized how far down the rabbit hole of her own mind she had gone, “We can’t win. We can never win.” She gasped out frantically. Donghyuck for his part simply nodded and pulled her closer into his arms.

“It’s okay,” Donghyuck said quietly as he ran a hand carefully up and down her back. Joohyun shed tears she didn’t even know she had.

“What do I do?” She asked desperately. No one answered.

Joohyun wasn’t sure how long she spent sobbing on the ground in Donghyuck’s arms, but she knew it was too long. Eventually her sobs quieted and Yeri helped her to her feet. Donghyuck reached out to take her hand as they walked. No one said a word. Mark asked Yeri a question about District 7. They went back to normal. Joohyun had never been so grateful for a group of people in her life. That thought made the pit in her stomach grow even more heavy.

-

After a little while they made it back to the waterfront in the middle of the Arena, but they still hadn’t found any clean water. Joohyun could feel the thirst tugging in her throat but she kept silent about it as they all took a seat in the treeline next to the water. Joohyun kept her eye on the Cornucopia. At the very top of the Cornucopia she saw a bit of movement. It looked like a boy, appearing out of nowhere from the materials of the structure, sitting up to take a sip of water out of a cleverly camouflaged bottle and then returning to his position. Joohyun could only partially make it out, but she made up her mind to stay quiet about it. The last thing that poor tribute needed was for his hiding spot to be given away. Maybe he actually had a chance if he could stay hidden like that. 

“Do you think we could try to-” Whatever Donghyuck was about to say was suddenly drowned out by a piercing scream coming from farther down the waterfront, coming from deeper into the Fall. “Shit.” He swore under his breath as they heard a familiar laugh. Yeoreum. She was coming closer. That meant the rest of the Career Pack was probably close behind. “What do we do?” He hissed and looked around frantically.

“Climb the trees!” Yeri whispered as she immediately turned around and bolted for the nearest tree that seemed to be tall enough. Joohyun reached out her good hand to help get Donghyuck to his feet and whipped around until she spotted Mark, already at the base of the tree next to the one Yeri had climbed. Joohyun rushed Donghyuck up to one of the trees as she heard another pitiful scream, this time closer, followed by more laughter. Then, Joohyun reached up to grab a branch and almost let out a scream herself.

Her hand had begun bleeding again at some point and nearly soaked through the bandages. Joohyun panted heavily as she looked around desperately for a way to climb the tree and get to safety before she heard another scream, this time from just behind her. In a last ditch attempt to save herself she hid. She crouched behind one of the trees and from her vantage point she could see everything.

Jiho, from District 9, had blood running down her arm as she stumbled and tried to do what Yeri, Mark and Donghyuck had. The problem is that where her hand should have been was just a mangled bloody stump. Joohyun fought back a gag as poor Jiho screamed and cried, clawing at the tree desperately until eventually Yeoreum came up behind her, grabbed her by the ponytail, and yanked her to the ground. Johnny and Mingyu laughed as all three of them surrounded the poor girl.

“Please- Please- Please-” Jiho cried pitifully but it only made Johnny laugh harder.

“Please, please!” Mingyu mocked as he stomped down on her bloody stump of an arm. Jiho screamed and with her good hand tried desperately to pry his body weight off of her but it was no use.

“Why are you crying sweet girl?” Yeoreum finally asked with a mocking, cold sweetness to her voice. She roughly ran her hand through Jiho’s hair, “Why do you think that’s going to help you?” Jiho let out an animalistic cry and Yeoreum cooed in mock sympathy. “Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.” Yeoreum said as she nodded up at Johnny. Johnny cracked his knuckles sharply and reached down to take Jiho’s face in his hands. Joohyun couldn’t watch any longer, but there wasn’t anything she could do to escape the sickening sounds of bones and cartilage cracking. The only saving grace was that after what seemed like forever Jiho’s cries of pain finally stopped. 

Joohyun fought so hard to refrain from being sick as she heard the three Careers bickering among themselves. Their voices were just starting to fade when Joohyun shifted her weight and felt a branch crack underneath her weight. All three of them went silent and Joohyun knew she was caught. She didn’t care about staying quiet anymore as she whimpered loudly and tried desperately to climb up the tree she was hiding behind. She tried to fight through the pain in her hand and climb faster but suddenly she felt a strong arm grab her around the waist and pull her off the tree. She screamed and frantically kicked at her attacker before she was flung to the ground.

Mingyu climbed on top of her immediately with a disgusting smirk on his face. Joohyun tried to get out of his grip but he had her completely pinned to the ground. A couple of feet away Joohyun could see what was left of Jiho’s body. Johnny and Yeoreum stood several feet away from them. Johnny seemed to be laughing at Joohyun’s predicament but Yeoreum had her arms crossed over her chest and watched silently.

“We’re gonna have some fun before you die.” Mingyu growled maniacally and released her left arm so he could pull at the fabric of her shirt.

“No!” Joohyun screamed in desperation and, without ceremony, slammed her head up into Mingyu’s. While he was still recovering from the hit she fought through her own dizziness and using her already injured hand threw a punch at the side of his head. It threw him just off balance enough that she managed to turn the tide and climb on top of him. She remembered the metal bar he had attached to his belt earlier and grabbed for it. Using her entire strength she managed to rip it free from his belt and bring it down directly onto his head.

“Help!” Mingyu gargled out as Joohyun screamed and brought the bar down harder and harder directly onto his head. She didn’t recognize the sounds coming from her own mouth, all she recognized is that he needed to die. She wouldn’t be safe until he died. Finally, when he let out a final gurgle and Joohyun saw the last spark of life leave his eyes did she let the metal bar fall from her hands. She heard a cry of pain from several feet away and jumped up to her feet as quickly as she could. 

Johnny was on his knees in front of Yeoreum, who had stabbed a knife directly into his throat. She twisted the knife back and forth cruelly before finally pulling it out of his flesh. Two canons went off in the distance. Yeoreum smiled softly and started to walk quietly towards Joohyun. Joohyun was completely frozen in place as Yeoreum stalked towards her. She could hear the sounds of hovercraft coming to pick up the bodies. Finally Yeoreum smiled and reached out a gentle hand to run down Joohyun’s cheek.

“Thanks for that,” She purred, “I’m saving you for last though. So don’t die until then, okay?” And with that Yeoreum was gone. Joohyun collapsed to the ground under her own weight and immediately was sick. The stench of blood and viscera was too much. She could barely feel her own body. She could barely hear anything over the noise of the hovercraft. Joohyun wasn’t even sure she was breathing until the hovercrafts were gone and she heard a soft familiar voice calling to her.

“Joohyun can I see your hand?” It was Yeri, sitting about a foot away and watching with nothing but concern in her eyes.

“It- It hurts.” Joohyun mumbled brokenly.

“I bet it does.” Yeri smiled sympathetically, “Can I take a look at it? I might be able to make it feel better.” Joohyun sobbed but she nodded and Yeri began carefully taking off the old bandages. Joohyun hissed when the wound was exposed to the air. Yeri mumbled sweet nothings under her breath the entire time she carefully tore up part of her own shirt in order to make a new bandage for Joohyun. By then the sun was setting and Joohyun was starting to become more aware of her surroundings bit by bit.

“Donghyuck!” Joohyun yelled suddenly, making Yeri jump. “Where is he? Where is Hyuck?!”

“Joohyun!” His voice called and Joohyun slumped in relief. She looked up and saw him waving down at her from next to Mark. “I’m okay!” He called.

“We decided those two should stay up there where they’re more safe.” Yeri explained, “I’ll stay down here with you.”

“Thank you.” Joohyun sighed in relief, “Thank you so much.”

“Of course.” Yeri smiled sadly, “Now get some rest. I’ve got first watch.” Joohyun nodded and laid down with her head in Yeri’s lap. Even when she closed her eyes though she still couldn’t rest. All that went through Joohyun’s mind was that last split second when the light left Mingyu’s eyes. It played on repeat, torturing Joohyun over and over again. She did that. She took his life away. A boy was dead because of her. It didn’t seem real.

Logically Joohyun knew that if she hadn’t done what she did he would have killed her. That thought did nothing to stop the guilt she felt rising from within her. Just then they heard a soft melodic blinking sound coming from above. A small parachute was falling gently down towards where Joohyun and Yeri laid under the trees. Yeri smiled and reached up a hand to catch it. On the side of the parachute was a written number 3.

“It’s for you Joohyun,” Yeri said as Joohyun pushed herself up to sit. Joohyun took the parachute carefully and opened it. Inside was a roll of bread and a note:

Stay alive, okay? - H

Joohyun made a small noise of confusion but Yeri just grinned widely.

“Haseul, the mentor from District Eleven, must have sent it.” She explained. Joohyun nodded, but she didn’t really understand it.

“Take-” Joohyun had to clear her throat, “Take this up to the boys. Split it between yourselves, okay?” Yeri looked like she was about to fight Joohyun on it until Joohyun begged, “Please, Yeri. They need to eat.” Yeri sighed and ripped off a small piece of bread to hand to Joohyun before gathering the rest of it up.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” Yeri said as she started to climb up the tree towards Mark and Donghyuck.

Joohyun had never seen a mentor send a sponsor gift to a tribute who was not from their own District. There weren’t any rules against it, it just seemed like a silly thing to do. Though, Joohyun supposed, Haseul might have assumed that since the four of them were all together her son would end up with some of the bread anyway. 

With a jolt Joohyun suddenly remembered. Haseul was essentially Mark’s mom. His only mom now that Vivi had passed. She felt a pain in her chest as she tried to imagine what Haseul must be going through. The woman had to watch her wife die on national television and now was forced to watch her son fight for his life without being able to really help. Joohyun almost thought she would rather be in the Arena than be stuck at home to watch. That might have been why Vivi volunteered. Maybe she couldn’t stand to watch her son fight for his life and be helpless to stop it. 

Joohyun felt sick again just thinking about it. Her head was pounding, the wound in her hand was throbbing, her entire body felt like it was made up of a thin layer of static. Joohyun had never felt so exhausted in her entire life. Yeri wasn’t back yet, but she could hear her talking to the boys up in the trees. So, Joohyun decided she would be safe if she laid her head down to rest. Just for a little while. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays!! A new chapter, and one that's much longer than usual as a bit of a holiday present! I'm hoping to also post the next chapter sooner than usual!! 
> 
> Also, I didn't edit this too much so like... sorry about that.
> 
> Anyways find me on twitter @babysharkmp3
> 
> Oh and by the way... things are about to take one hell of a turn so get fuckin ready


	11. One More Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Joohyun woke up everything around her was pitch black darkness. She heard loud explosions in the distance and smelled smoke in the air. She couldn’t see anything around her but she heard a loud motor from overhead. It sounded like the hovercrafts, but it was different.  
> “Joohyun!” Yeri whispered, “Joohyun get up it’s time to go!”   
> “Yeri?” Joohyun called, completely lost in the darkness. Suddenly she felt a warm hand on hers and screamed before Yeri shushed her.  
> “Don’t worry, it’s just me.” Yeri comforted, “It’s time to go. Are you ready?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright today we have a trigger warning for transphobia, medical settings, involuntary drug administration, and I suppose mentioned bombings. That should be about it for this chapter though! It's pretty different, so I hope you like it!

When Joohyun woke up everything around her was pitch black darkness. She heard loud explosions in the distance and smelled smoke in the air. She couldn’t see anything around her but she heard a loud motor from overhead. It sounded like the hovercrafts, but it was different.

“Joohyun!” Yeri whispered, “Joohyun get up it’s time to go!” 

“Yeri?” Joohyun called, completely lost in the darkness. Suddenly she felt a warm hand on hers and screamed before Yeri shushed her.

“Don’t worry, it’s just me.” Yeri comforted, “It’s time to go. Are you ready?”

“What are you talking about? Where’s Donghyuck?” Joohyun called desperately as Yeri pulled her forward. Joohyun couldn’t figure out how Yeri knew what direction to go until suddenly a bright light illuminated the path. Then she saw the big night vision goggles on top of Yeri’s head. The light was coming from the top of what looked like a hovercraft. On the ramp for the hovercraft stood Mark, hugging a woman with short brown hair about the same height as him. Donghyuck stood a respectful distance away, looking around frantically until his eyes landed on Joohyun.

“Joohyun!” He called as he dashed out to grab her hand out of Yeri’s and pulled her onto the hovercraft. “Come on, we need to get you to medical!” He scrambled to push her deeper into the halls of the hovercraft. Vaguely it occurred to Joohyun that he seemed to already know where he was taking her. “Wendy!” Donghyuck called as he pushed open a door and dragged Joohyun in behind him. Suddenly Joohyun was overwhelmed by how stark white the room they were in was. There were several beds set up around the room with a handful of other tributes on them, and puttering between beds was a woman Joohyun recognized as the mentor for District 6. “Wendy I need you to look at Joohyun!” Donghyuck said frantically as he pushed Joohyun into an empty bed.

“Yes, yes I’m coming Donghyuck.” Wendy sighed as she made her way towards Joohyun’s bed, “I promise you she’s not going to die if she has to wait the one minute it takes to walk down the hallway.”

“I don’t care.” Donghyuck said quietly, “Please help her?” Wendy smiled and nodded. Joohyun was in a complete state of shock. Glancing around she saw other tributes that looked just as shocked as she felt. Jungwoo from District Eight was sitting next to his mentor, Jeno, looking completely shell shocked. Jaemin, Jeno’s husband, was carefully using a cloth to wipe the camouflaging makeup off of Jungwoo’s face. Jungwoo must have been the one hiding on top of the Cornucopia.

“Can I see your hand?” Wendy asked gently and Joohyun obediently lifted her hand for Wendy to take a look. Joohyun couldn’t watch as Wendy started to unwrap the fabric so she kept looking around the room.

Lucas was sitting in the bed across from Joohyun, lightly shaking as his mentor, Yves, tried to calm him. A little farther down Jaehyun from 10, Taeyong from 12, and Ten were all sitting and talking quietly among themselves. Ten looked up when he felt Joohyun’s eyes on him and sent her a gentle wave. All Joohyun could do was blink before she glanced away.

Suddenly there was a loud bang from the door and the sounds of yelling. There was a familiar voice coming from the other side of the door and Joohyun immediately yanked her hand back from Wendy and curled into a ball. Donghyuck turned to face the door and resolutely placed himself between Joohyun and any danger. Suddenly Yeoreum was being hauled into the room roughly by Xiaojun and Yeeun. Together they dragged Yeoreum’s screaming form to a bed and made quick work of strapping her down.

“Here!” Another familiar voice said, “I have the sedative.” Seo Jisoo said as she rushed up to Yeoreum’s still struggling form with a syringe in her hand.

“J-Jisoo?” Joohyun’s eyes went wide.

“I’m here,” Jisoo said quietly but her eyes never left Yeoreum as she carefully administered the drug. Xiaojun and Yeeun didn’t let go of their grip on the girl until she finally seemed to fall asleep. Even then Xiaojun left but Yeeun stayed sitting next to the bed, presumably to make sure Yeoreum stayed down. Jisoo crossed carefully to where Joohyun sat curled in a ball. Donghyuck immediately moved to block her when Jisoo got too close.

“H-Hyuckie it’s okay. She’s the girl I volunteered for.” Joohyun called. Donghyuck turned back and met eyes with Joohyun. He hesitated for a moment, but he must have seen what he needed in Joohyun’s face because eventually he nodded and let Jisoo closer. “What are you doing here?” Joohyun asked, amazed as Jisoo took a seat on the bed immediately next to Joohyun’s.

“Kind of like you, I volunteered.” Jisoo shrugged sheepishly, “Though I knew what I was volunteering for. I doubt anyone told you what you really volunteered for.”

“The Hunger Games…” Joohyun said uncertainty, and Jisoo shook her head.

“It’s a lot bigger than that.” Jisoo sighed, “For now, let Wendy patch you up. We’ll fill you in as soon as we can, okay?” All Joohyun could do was nod dumbly and let Wendy resume her work. Not for the first time Joohyun was seriously starting to wonder what she had gotten herself into.

-

Joohyun wasn’t sure how long she was on the hovercraft, all she knew was that eventually Wendy helped her strap into a more secure seat as they descended. She could barely use her injured hand, but she tried not to think too hard about it. Yeoreum was still sedated when they landed, but the rest of the tributes all seemed to be relatively stable. The mentors seemed completely calm, and so did Donghyuck for that matter so Joohyun tried to stop herself from panicking. 

Outside the hovercraft was something Joohyun recognized distantly. It looked like… an old space station. One she saw in history books. They were from back before Panem, when humans thought they could colonize space. They made a valiant effort, but the chaos on Earth and in Panem made it impossible. They called it the Lost Era. So much information was lost about what happened to humanity at the time. All any of Joohyun’s history professors really felt comfortable saying was that Panem rose out of the ashes of the Lost Era. Space colonization efforts hadn’t been a true interest of Panem, at least not in Joohyun’s time. The station at first glance seemed to be completely decimated and in a state of serious disrepair. Joohyun knew better. She recognized newer technologies and materials, recently manufactured mainly for military purposes. It might not have been her department in District 3, but she still recognized technology when it was in front of her.

The mentors guided Joohyun and the other tributes quickly into the space station where they were shepherded into a room with a large table in the middle. There were just enough seats that when all of the tributes and mentors sat down there were three empty spaces. The middle seat looked like it had some sort of podium in front of it. Joohyun grabbed Donghyuck’s hand under the table when the door to the room suddenly opened.

“Hello!” A young tan man said as he entered the room. He had a dimple in one of his cheeks but piercing dark eyes as he scanned the room. Joohyun wasn’t surprised when he was the one to take the seat at the podium. Behind him two women entered the room, both with natural brown hair flowing behind them. Joohyun immediately recognized one of them. Lee Jieun. Head Gamemaker Lee Jieun. “I’m sure you’ve all been through quite the ordeal so let’s make this brief.” The young man from before continued. Joohyun struggled not to shrink into her chair. 

“It’s okay,” Yeri whispered quietly from the side of Joohyun that Donghyuck was not sitting on, “Promise.” All Joohyun could do was nod as she watched the man apprehensively.

“My name is President Kim Namjoon. Here we have our head of Station security, Teramoto Yukika,” One of the women smiled politely, “And here we have our esteemed guest Lee Jieun.” Jieun, for her part, waved sheepishly at the table of tributes, “She helped us a great deal with your retrieval.” Namjoon continued with a gentle smile of his own. “Now,” he continued, “I’m sure you all have questions, so I’m going to hand the floor to Haseul to explain the rest.” Namjoon and the two women sat down as Haseul got to her feet.

“Thank you President,” She said politely before turning to the rest of the tributes and mentors, “Some of you were aware of the plan from the beginning,” Haseul took a deep breath, “But not all of you. For that, I apologize.” She hesitated, “Joohyun, Lucas, Yeoreum, I am deeply sorry for what you had to endure.” She said before bowing deeply.

Yeoreum, who still seemed to be barely awake, huffed out a little breath. Lucas on the other hand watched Haseul with wide, innocent eyes. Joohyun had no idea how to react. She tried to keep her face as impassive as possible as she waited for an explanation. 

“Now,” Haseul cleared her throat, “Myself and the other mentors devised a plan, long before this year’s Hunger Games were announced. Our initial plan was to, with the help of President Kim, use the Hunger Games as a way to get our troops into the Capital unnoticed. Things obviously did not go according to plan.” Haseul hesitated. Joohyun didn’t miss the comforting smile Mark sent her. “Our plan was to have volunteers join the Hunger Games and then, from inside the arena, launch an attack on the Capital. Capital security is high, so we saw it as one of our only opportunities to infiltrate the Capital without being noticed. However, several of our operatives did not follow through in the process of volunteering for the Hunger Games. So, our plan failed. We lost sev-” Haseul swallowed harshly, “Several of our best operatives.” She paused to take a deep breath before continuing, “So we launched a rescue operation. We were too late to save all of you. For that we take full responsibility. Thank you.” Haseul sat down quickly and immediately Mark pulled her into a long hug. Joohyun’s heart lurched for the two of them. 

Distantly she wondered what their life would be like now. Mark lost a mother and Haseul lost a wife. There had to be a hole in their hearts. Joohyun couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain they both felt. At that moment President Kim stood back up and Joohyun squirmed in her seat.

“Thank you Haseul,” He said kindly before he continued to glance around the room, “Now, we know that you have been through quite an ordeal. The Hunger Games are brutal and violent. Our operatives were trained, but even they were not fully prepared for what they would face. Plus, as a result of our failure, several civilians were entered into the Hunger Games by chance. For that our government takes full responsibility.” President Kim did a full bow but a couple of seats down Yeoreum scoffed. 

She was strapped down into her seat by two metal handcuffs while Yeeun and Xiaojun sat on either side of her. Her shoulder length dark hair was completely disheveled and her cheeks had a light flush to them. She looked like she was sick honestly. In a way it was vindicating to see someone like Yeoreum reduced to a mess in a hospital gown.

“You don’t really mean that.” She growled out. President Kim, for his part, simply met her gaze straight on. “I didn’t know shit about your plan. Johnny and Mingyu didn’t. Yooa sure as shit didn’t. But we all fucking volunteered.”

“You volunteered because I told you to volunteer.” Yeeun said with a sigh, “I thought you would be a good candidate. Everyone knows you’ve never been a big fan of the Capitol.” She said evenly. Yeoreum laughed.

“Of course I’m not a fan of the Capitol! Why the fuck would I be?” She asked hysterically, “Do you think I like being poor? Do you think I like having to let those Peacekeepers fuck me just so I can keep a roof over my head?”

“Then you of all people should understand.” Xiaojun glared, “We come from the richest Districts yet we still have nothing. That’s because of the Capitol.”

“No!” Yeoreum screamed, “We, have nothing. You and all the other victors have fucking everything! That’s all I was trying to do! You win the games, you get money and peace. That’s all I fucking wanted. I was just going to play the Capitol’s game and then get on with my miserable life like I should have when I was 18! But you assholes took that from me!” At that moment she managed to bend the metal of one of the handcuffs, “Now I’m here to what? Fucking die for your cause?” She started to laugh hysterically as several armed guards around the room moved forward to restrain her. “You can all get fucked!” The guards started to remove her from the room and Wendy followed afterwards, sheepishly closing the door behind them as they left. Loud screaming could still be heard for another minute or so before it finally faded into silence. 

President Kim had not moved a single muscle. Yukika, on his left, seemed to be whispering quiet orders into a small communicator pinned to her shirt. Jieun seemed completely unimpressed if the scowl on her face was anything to go by.

“Well?” Jieun asked, “Are you going to apologize?” She looked pointedly at Xiaojun and Yeeun. They both glanced towards each other before Yeeun shrugged.

“No.” She said simply and Xiaojun nodded in agreement. Before Jieun could say anything else President Kim set a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Let us continue.” He said softly, “I trust that you two will keep Yeoreum safe and informed?” He waited for Yeeun to nod before he smiled. “Perfect.” Something about his smile was odd. It was… plastic in a way. No one else in the room seemed uneasy though so Joohyun decided to just sit and wait until this meeting of sorts was over. “Now, I’m sure that you all are very curious about where you are. For now all you need to know is that you are safe, and you are being protected by the government of Circenses.”

Joohyun froze.

Nobody else in the room seemed to bat an eyelash at that revelation. Lucas, for his part, looked confused, but Joohyun was horrified that no one else said a word. 

“This is what we call the Station,” President Kim continued, “It is where we accept incoming guests and citizens. You will receive medical care here until we can transfer you to somewhere safe within Circenses. Of course the Panem Liberation Movement will welcome any help and support in their efforts against the Capital, but rest assured that should you choose every one of you are welcome in Circenses as a refugee.” He smiled warmly around the room, “For now, however, heal up and recover. There is still a revolution to be won.” President Kim gave a signal and all of the armed guards around the room began to file out. “For now I will be leaving you in my companion’s capable hands. Jungkook will do anything he can to assist you in your cause.” President Kim bowed again before he himself exited. 

Joohyun breathed an audible sigh of relief as soon as the man had left with his guards. The mentors around the room began to shuffle around as a few more people entered the room. Joohyun didn’t have time to register the new faces before Taekwoon shuffled into the room. He immediately jogged over to where Joohyun and Donghyuck were sitting to pull them both into a big hug.

“We’re okay,” Donghyuck reassured quietly. Taekwoon simply squeezed them tighter before silently beginning to fuss over Joohyun’s hand.

“I’m okay, really.” She tried to reassure but he simply stared deadpan at her before going back to what he was doing.

“He’s been really worried about you two,” Yeojin said with a laugh, “I honestly thought he was going to try to break down the walls of the Arena himself.” Taekwoon lightly slapped her arm, making her laugh even harder. 

“Why weren’t you worried about me like that?” Yeri asked her own mentor accusingly. Seulgi rolled her eyes.

“Because you’re a brat.” She joked and pushed Yeri to the side slightly.

“I’m a cute brat though!” Yeri said with a shit eating grin.

“Alright everyone,” Haseul’s voice drew the attention of the small crowd of people milling around the room, “We have a lot to discuss.” She had taken President Kim’s previous position in front of the podium. On her right was Jieun and a man Joohyun had never seen before. He was muscular, with dark brown hair obscuring his eyes. They had the same quality as President Kim’s had, they seemed almost plastic in a way. On Haseul’s other side was Yukika and an intimidating woman with her long blonde hair tied into a high ponytail. “Joohyun, Lucas, this is Kim Lip. She is currently filling in as my second in command.” The woman smiled when Haseul introduced her and the little pit of reservation in Joohyun’s gut vanished. “Everyone, this is Kim Jungkook, President Kim’s companion and head of military.” The muscular man nodded slightly as his eyes shifted around the room, “He will be our point of contact between our revolution and the government of Circenses. Since President Kim must continue negotiations with Panem and continue governing his own country he has sent his companion to help us.”

It was genuinely strange to look around the room and see so many people Joohyun knew defer to Haseul with such respect. It occurred to Joohyun that they must have planned this for quite some time. Joohyun never even knew there was a revolution, let alone that it was so organized. She wasn’t sure whether she should be relieved or not. Haseul awkwardly picked up the podium and set it down on the floor behind her seat before sitting back down.

“You don’t want the podium?” Jungkook asked, his brows furrowed.

“No,” Haseul shook her head, “Now is the time for us all to speak together.” Her eyes landed on Joohyun before shifting to Lucas, “Unless you would like to be excused?” Joohyun froze. She was being given an out. 

She never wanted to be a part of a revolution. At least, not seriously. Joohyun always felt like Yeoreum did. All she thought she could do was just to continue on with her miserable life. Plus, she didn’t exactly trust any government of Circenses. Then again… when she thought of leaving Donghyuck and Yeri behind, or any of her friends for that matter, she couldn’t do it. So she shook her head no and glanced toward Lucas, who seemed to have made the same decision.

“Thank you for joining us then,” Haseul smiled warmly, “Unfortunately, we are in a difficult spot.” She began.

“God the Capitol is on to us now.” Jieun groaned loudly.

“We had to make ourselves known to do a rescue operation.” Yeeun supplied, “There wasn’t exactly anything to be done about it.”

“True…” Haseul winced, “We’ve lost the element of surprise though and there’s no getting it back.”

“I would suggest something,” Xiaojun started, “Even with the support of Circenses, the Capitol still has the power to overwhelm us. That seems to be our biggest disadvantage, yes?”

“They have practically infinite Peacekeepers,” Kim Lip said wryly, “Plus they have a deceptively strong military and they’re extremely technologically advanced. We don’t even know what they have.”

“That’s not necessarily true.” Joohyun said quietly. All eyes in the room seemed to zero in on her immediately and she flinched in her seat. Yeri reached out to take her hand comfortingly just as Donghyuck nudged her shoulder encouragingly.

“Tell us more Joohyun,” Haseul said kindly and Joohyun took a deep breath, looking around the room until she found the person she needed.

“Jisoo and I… we worked in programming. We know how the Capitol’s cellular phone systems work.” Joohyun shrugged, “Our team basically built their grid. I’m willing to bet we can find a back door.” Jisoo nodded across the room.

“Joohyun’s right, we both have experience.” She sent Joohyun a smile, “We would need some equipment though.”

“Get me a list of what you need and I will speak to my companion.” Jungkook said automatically.

“Thank you,” Haseul said, “Now we have one problem taken care of, what were you about to suggest Lip?”

“From my perspective,” Xiaojun said as he folded his hands on the table in front of him, “The only way we can physically outnumber and overwhelm the Capitol is if we unite the Districts.” The room went quiet, “The Capitol has very little resources on their own. The true power of Panem lies in the Districts. If we can convince the Districts of this and get them to rally around our cause, we should be able to overpower the Capitol and take over with the help of Circenses.”

“How do you suggest we do that?” Yeojin piped up then, “They cut off communication between the Districts. The only way we were able to even coordinate this was through the mentors when we met in the Capitol.”

“Would it be possible to set up communication between the Districts?” Jeno asked, leaning forward to make eye contact with Joohyun.

“I think so…” Joohyun hesitated, “I will need help with the manufacturing, but we should be able to set up a system letting us communicate. It might just be a few radios though, I have no idea if I can do anything more.”

“We have friends in the Districts,” Jaemin said quietly from his husband’s side. He leaned in closer and whispered something into Jeno’s ear.

“Jaemin’s right,” Jeno nodded without missing a beat, “In this room we have connections to every district. I’m sure we all know people.”

“District 1 will not be easily convinced.” Xiaojun said simply.

“Neither will District 2.” Yeeun supplied.

“They have no deep loyalty to the Capitol. If we convince the rest of the Districts could we earn their loyalty?” Haseul bit her lip as she asked, almost like she was afraid of the answer.

“Perhaps.” Xiaojun nodded. Yeeun only shrugged.

“Well it will have to do for now.” Haseul sighed, “For the rest of the Districts however we need a plan.”

“I think we should start with District 10.” Jaehyun, the tribute from District 10, suggested. “We’re the closest to that one already, right?” He asked Jungkook who simply nodded, “I know they don’t like the Capitol there. I’m so sure we could take control. Then if we take 11 we have control over almost all of the food in Panem.”

“District 11 is too overly policed…” Mark bit his lip, “It’s also the most heavily guarded.”

“And one of the most rebellious.” Haseul offered up, “Remember, that’s where we came from.”

“We can’t take over the Districts one by one,” Xiaojun started, “The Capitol expects us to be in Circenses, not to be in Panem. If we can get into several of the Districts and spark a rebellion in them all at once, we might stand a better chance.”

“We would be separated though, isn’t that dangerous?” Donghyuck asked nervously.

“Yes.” Xiaojun conceded, “But if we take over one District and we all go to that District then what is there to stop the Capitol from simply destroying the entire District like they did with 13 all those years ago?”

“That’s why it has to be specific Districts.” Yeojin piped up, silently giving a signal to Taekwoon. “If we take over Districts that they can’t bomb… what will they do?”

“What do you mean, Districts that they can’t bomb?” Haseul asked.

“Well they can’t exactly blow up the District that feeds them.” Yeojin shrugged, “Or the one that supplies their tech.” Wordlessly Taekwoon pressed a couple of buttons on the table they were all sitting around which pulled up a digital map of Panem. “Think about it this way,” Yeojin stood and circled around the map until she was next to District 4. “If they blow up District 4 then the President doesn’t get to eat fish for a while until they can rebuild. If they blow up District 10 then everyone in the Capitol has to eat vegetarian for a few months. If District 8 as gone then the Lee Mijoo’s of the world wouldn’t get a new dress every week. But District 9....” Yeojin highlighted it on the map, “And District 11. That’s where the real power lies.”

“You’re right,” Haseul jumped out of her seat, “They can’t blow those Districts up. If they do that then they don’t have any food.”

“Also District 5…” Joohyun supplied quietly, “Half the Capitol needs electricity to do anything. Without it they’re powerless. Literally.”

“Don’t forget 3,” Yeojin said, “They can’t bomb all of their geniuses.”

“I think I speak for everyone when I say that the less bombings the better,” Jungkook said suddenly. Joohyun had almost forgot he was even in the room. When their eyes met it sent a shiver down Joohyun’s spine that she tried desperately to ignore.

“So what exactly are you suggesting here?” Chuu, the mentor from District 10, finally spoke up, “We just waltz into Panem and take over these Districts?”

“No, but we can be strategic about where we go.” Yves said, “We prioritize Districts 9, 11, 3 and 5.”

“Prioritize them for what?” Chuu asked exhasperatedly.

“Do you think you could set up communication for us across those distances?” Yves asked Joohyun.

“I think so?” Joohyun shrugged, “We might not be able to shut down 5 in that case. I’ll need their power source to set something like that up.”

“That’s fine by me.” Yves said, “We infiltrate those Districts and then we communicate when we can plan a unified uprising. Like Lip said, we have more people on our side than they do.”

“I like the idea…” Haseul sighed, “But we’re relying a lot on communication from Joohyun that we aren’t even sure she can build. No offense to you Joohyun, it’s just that we can’t base a plan on technology that doesn’t exist.”

“I can start it as soon as Jungkook can get me what I need.” Joohyun suggested but Haseul shook her head.

“That’s good, but I still think we need another plan.” Haseul winced, “Our best laid plans haven’t exactly been going well lately.” 

“What if…” Jungwoo swallowed harshly, “What if we can’t communicate but we do it anyways?” There was a beat of silence where Haseul watched him encouragingly, “We could decided on a date or time now, so even if we can’t talk to each other we still follow through on the plan.”

“How would we know we succeeded?” Jeno wondered aloud.

“Don’t the mayors of each District and the Peacekeepers have ways to communicate with each other?” Donghyuck suggested, “That’s a pretty powerful indicator that we’ve taken over a District.” 

“It’s a good idea,” Chuu sighed loudly, “But half of these kids look like they’re about to tip over. Don’t you think we should let them rest?”

“I can escort them to their rooms.” Yukika spoke for the first time. Her voice was nice, it was sweet. Joohyun had a hard time imagining her as a head of security. “Come along!” She said brightly as she made it to the door to the room. She held the door open and looked pointedly at the small crowd. Yeojin nudged Joohyun and Donghyuck up. Slowly but surely all of the tributes that had been in the Arena filed out of the room and Yukika led them down a long hallway. They took so many twists and turns that Joohyun was infinitely grateful they had Yukika to guide their path. She wondered how Yukika had even managed to memorize her way around a place like the Station. 

“Oh,” Yukika said as she cocked her head to the side when they arrived at two doors. Joohyun saw the problem immediately. There were little whiteboards on each of the doors with the names of who was staying there. The first door had two names written on it: Yeoreum and Yeri. The second door had seven: Donghyuck, Mark, Lucas, Jungwoo, Jaehyun, Taeyong… and a name Joohyun hadn’t seen in many years. Without missing a beat Donghyuck reached forward and wiped the last name off the whiteboard.

“This isn’t going to work.” Yeri said immediately.

“You’re absolutely right,” Yukika agreed, “Give me just a minute.” Yukika’s face was dark as she took a few steps away to speak lowly into her communicator. 

“Sorry Joohyun,” Mark said quietly. Joohyun shook her head. Nothing like this had happened to her in years. If anything she was surprised. Panem had death arenas for children but at least they were respectful when they were trying to send her to her death. She couldn’t say that Circenses would do the same. It was then that it occurred to her.

“Where is Ten?” She asked, “Was he in the meeting?” Taeyong shook his head immediately.

“No, he said…” Taeyong winced. “Well he said he had better things to do I guess.”

“That sounds like Ten.” Jaehyun grinned, trying to lighten the mood. From a few feet away Yukika was now practically growling into her communicator.

“Did he say when he would be back?” Joohyun asked hopefully as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“No…” Taeyong said apologetically, “But I can let you know if I see him?”

“Thank you,” Joohyun smiled just as Yukika came back with a dark look in her eyes.

“President Kim and his companion have decided you will not be allowed to join the other girls.” On a certain level Joohyun appreciated the sheer anger radiating out of Yukika’s posture, “I’m not letting you stay with the boys though, so I’ve arranged for you to have a private room.” Yukika’s face fell, “Joohyun I am so sorry. You’ll still be close to the others it’s just… the best I could do.”

“I understand,” Joohyun rapidly blinked back tears, “Thank you.”

“Who shoved a stick up their asses?” Donghyuck burst out. Joohyun quickly grabbed his arm and shook her head, trying to get him to stop. Donghyuck deflated but seemed to understand. Yukika shuffled over to the door just on the other side of Yeri and Yeoreum’s room and quickly wrote Joohyun’s name in with a dry erase marker.

“Let us know if you need anything.” Yukika said quickly before she was immediately gone back the way she had come.

“Come on, let’s check out your room!” Yeri said quickly as she dragged Joohyun towards the door with her name on it. Donghyuck and Mark immediately followed. The inside of the room was nice. There was one big bed in the middle absolutely covered in earth tone blankets. In the corner was a small wooden wardrobe next to a plain looking mirror. There weren’t any windows but the two lamps in the corners of the room flickered on when Yeri flipped the switch so there was a nice peaceful glow of light anyways. One corner of the room even had a small armchair. Yeri immediately pulled Joohyun onto the big bed with Mark and Donghyuck following suit behind them. 

“God this feels so nice after being in the woods.” Donghyuck said as he curled up to Joohyun’s side. Mark wrapped an arm around Donghyuck’s middle and gently nuzzled into his hair.

“You’re right, this is so nice.” He hummed. Joohyun sighed a little in agreement. 

“It would be nicer if they let you stay in the girl’s room.” Yeri grumbled as she shifted closer.

“I’m not surprised,” Joohyun mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Donghyuck asked quietly.

“What do you guys know about Circenses?” Joohyun asked quietly. She briefly sat up and glanced around the room, but there weren’t any obvious cameras so she laid back down.

“Not much…” Yeri mumbled sleepily.

“They’re to the south of Panem. They used to be one country but when the revolution happened.” Mark started as he rubbed at his eyes, “Circenses wouldn’t stand for the Hunger Games so Panem seceeded.”

“You’re pretty close.” Joohyun smiled, “They taught us at the Academy. A little bit at least.” She sighed, “They taught us something different though. They taught us that Circenses and Panem split during the revolution because Circenses didn’t want to waste their resources on the Capitol. The Capitol somehow managed to win the revolution though. After everything died down though Circenses and Panem couldn’t exactly get along anymore. Panem isn’t exactly a very conservative country socially at least. Circenses is.”

“That’s a nice way of putting it…” Donghyuck scoffed.

“Is that why President Kim and Jungkook call each other companion and not husband?” Mark asked, suddenly much more alert.

“Yeah…” Joohyun sighed, “I don’t know how much of it was Panem trying to stroke it’s own dick but what little we learned about other countries wasn’t exactly flattering. Circenses lets people get something called a “civil companionship” and I guess it’s supposed to be equal to a marriage just… separate.”

“Yikes.” Yeri winced, “That sounds terrible.”

“It is… and people like me aren’t usually allowed.” Joohyun swallowed, “I think I’m only allowed here because I’m a guest of Haseul’s.”

“It’s hard to imagine Haseul working with someone like that honestly…” Donghyuck said quietly before turning to Mark, “Do you think your mom knows?” Mark shook his head.

“Well… I don’t think she knows at least.” Mark said hesitantly, “She’s… she really wants to get rid of the Hunger Games though. Maybe she thought she could just take Circenses support but none of the laws? She and mom were married.”

“She might not know,” Joohyun supplied, “I only know because I went to Academy. It didn’t seem like anyone else in that meeting really knew much about Circenses to begin with.” Just then the door burst open violently and Yeoreum appeared on the other side of it. Joohyun lunged forward to put herself in between the others and Yeoreum while Mark screeched at the top of his lungs. Donghyuck flinched painfully into Mark’s chest and Yeri completely froze in place. Yeoreum, however, seemed completely oblivious to all of this. She gingerly closed the door behind her before going to sit in the little arm chair in the corner. A long beat of silence fell over the group. Joohyun was still trying to run the statistics of how easily they could escape and get to Yukika, or anyone, who could help them, when Yeoreum spoke.

“What?” She growled and threw her legs over the arms of the chair, “I’m not going to kill you. I don’t have a reason to.”

“You could have fooled me…” Donghyuck muttered.

“Don’t think I can’t,” Yeoreum spat, “I just don’t have a good enough reason anymore.”

“W-Why are you in here?” Mark stuttered.

“I woke up alone. I didn’t like it.” She shrugged, “Plus I wanted to know how Joohyun here is adjusting to life under Circenses rule.” Before Joohyun could get a word out Yeoreum kept talking, “I went to Academy too you know. I learned the same shit you did.”

“So you know…” Joohyun said quietly as she let her guard down, at least a little bit.

“Yep.” Yeoreum groaned, “And I can’t believe that Jang fucking Yeeun of all people convinced me to get involved in this whole mess.” She shook her head violently. “So what the fuck is Circenses doing getting involved in Panem shit?”

“I wish I knew.” Joohyun sighed, “I don’t like it though. I trust Haseul but…”

“You picked up on it too?” Yeoreum asked without looking over. 

“Yeah. Something’s weird.” Joohyun confirmed.

“I’ll talk to my mom?” Mark offered.

“See if that does any good.” Yeoreum scoffed.

“That would be good Mark, thank you.” Joohyun tried to be comforting, “Let’s get some rest now, okay?”

“I’ll be first watch!” Yeoreum called sarcastically from the armchair. Joohyun did her best to ignore Yeoreum and simply let herself fall asleep in Yeri’s arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you still on board with this fic? I was super nervous to post this part.
> 
> As usual you can find me on twitter @babysharkmp3


	12. Black Mamba

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He’s right.” Joohyun shrugged, “It doesn’t seem like a lot at first, but you can actually get a lot of information from it. It’s not super relevant in the Districts but in the Capitol? They use their cell phones all the time. I can see who they’re calling, when they’re calling, and for how long. If they’re on a Capitol watchlist I can even see a transcript of the call.”  
>  “Shit…” Yeoreum grumbled.  
>  “Do the people in the Capitol know about this?” Yeeun asked incredulously.  
>  “I mean… Yeah.” Yeojin blinked a couple times, “I don’t think they really care.”  
>  “Or they might not realize how the data can be used.” Taekwoon hummed.  
>  “Capitol citizens have it so good.” Ten grumbled as he came back with a tray for Joohyun, “I don’t think they have any reason to be worried about stuff like that. Not the same way we do.”  
>  “What are the Capitol citizens gonna do?” Yeoreum laughed, “Talk to the wrong dress maker?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter we have a trigger warning for transphobia, but otherwise it should actually be totally clear! 
> 
> so in that case... enjoy!

When Joohyun woke up the rest of her little group was still asleep. Yeoreum was gone from the armchair, but the soft breaths from the rest of her group was a dead giveaway. Joohyun was never one to lay around in bed once she was awake so she gently extracted herself from Yeri’s grip and wandered to the wardrobe. 

Joohyun managed to dig out some comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt before she retied her ponytail and decided to go see if she could find some food. The second she walked out of her room though she was greeted by the sight of Jungkook and Yukika talking. Joohyun could read the barely concealed rage in Yukika’s features and the contempt in Junkook’s. It sent a shiver down her spine.

Before Joohyun could even come up with a plan to slip past them they both noticed her at the same time.

“Joohyun,” Jungkook said with his plastic smile, “You had guests with you last night.”

“Yes.” Joohyun said and tried not to make it sound like a question. Even if she didn’t agree with Circenses she understood who held the power in the current situation.

“Even though they had their own rooms.” Jungkook continued and raised a single eyebrow, “That’s an interesting choice.”

“Well I guess we got used to sleeping in groups.” Joohyun shrugged, “Fighting for your life in a death arena tends to do that kind of thing.” The side of Yukika’s mouth twitched. Jungkook scowled.

“Be careful.” Jungkook hissed, “You’re a long way from home.”

“Noted.” Joohyun said coolly as she started to make her way past him. She had to fight to keep her head held high as she walked straight forward. Joohyun had no idea where she was going, but that asshole didn’t need to know that. So she kept going until she saw the first corner she could take and rounded it. The second she did she ran into an awestruck Yeoreum.

Yeoreum didn’t say a word, she just offered Joohyun a simple high five before she turned on her heel and walked in the opposite direction. Joohyun didn’t know where else to go so she found herself following Yeoreum all the way to what seemed to be a cafeteria of sorts. Joohyun breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Ten sitting at a table next to Yeojin, Taekwoon and Yeeun. Yeoreum wordlessly went and claimed the seat next to Yeeun so Joohyun was left with the seat next to Ten.

“I thought you were done eating-” Yeeun started before she looked up and registered Joohyun’s presence, “Ah. I see.” Yeeun smirked, “Thank’s for bringing Joohyun.”

“Fuck off,” Yeoreum mumbled and stole a little bite of food off Yeeun’s plate. Yeeun simply sighed and sent a soft smile towards Joohyun.

“We heard there was an issue with the sleeping arrangements.” Yeojin winced, “I’m so sorry that happened, I tried to talk to President Kim but…”

“He’s an asshole.” Taekwoon said so quietly that Joohyun barely managed to hear it.

“Pretty much.” Yeojin agreed.

“It’s okay.” Joohyun attempted to smile, “I know you guys don’t have the control here.”

“I got you something,” Ten said quietly, “Think of it as a congrats for surviving present.” He said as he slid a small package over to Joohyun. “Here, I’ll go get you some food so y’all can talk.” Joohyun quickly took the little package and stuffed it into her pocket. It didn’t seem like anyone at their little table was planning on asking too many questions, but Joohyun felt better safe than sorry. She was pretty sure she knew what was in the package without having to check. Hormones. For when she needed them next. God Ten was an angel.

“Yukika is sweet,” Joohyun said quietly in an attempt to break the silence.

“I’m glad,” Yeojin smiled earnestly, “Now, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. You said you should be able to get into The Capitol’s system earlier.”

“Oh!” Joohyun would be lying if she said she wasn’t relieved to be able to just talk about something she knew like the back of her hand, “Yeah, I think I could get into their cellular phone network. I need a computer, preferably a powerful one. Probably two if we’re being honest. Then I can get into my network back in District 3 and then find my way into the Capitol’s network. Even if I cant, I should be able to get a hold of data logs and those should hopefully tell us a lot.”

“Data logs?” Yeeun raised an eyebrow, “How would that help us?”

“You can tell more than you think.” Taekwoon supplied quietly.

“He’s right.” Joohyun shrugged, “It doesn’t seem like a lot at first, but you can actually get a lot of information from it. It’s not super relevant in the Districts but in the Capitol? They use their cell phones all the time. I can see who they’re calling, when they’re calling, and for how long. If they’re on a Capitol watchlist I can even see a transcript of the call.”

“Shit…” Yeoreum grumbled.

“Do the people in the Capitol know about this?” Yeeun asked incredulously.

“I mean… Yeah.” Yeojin blinked a couple times, “I don’t think they really care.”

“Or they might not realize how the data can be used.” Taekwoon hummed.

“Capitol citizens have it so good.” Ten grumbled as he came back with a tray for Joohyun, “I don’t think they have any reason to be worried about stuff like that. Not the same way we do.”

“What are the Capitol citizens gonna do?” Yeoreum laughed, “Talk to the wrong dress maker?”

“I’ve seen names on watchlists for weirder reasons,” Joohyun shrugged, “Thank you by the way Ten.” She said as she started to eat. She didn’t realize how hungry she actually was until she started getting food into her system. She spent so much of the last week stressed and anxious that she hadn’t been putting too much thought into getting enough food.

“Well, we can talk to Haseul about it either way.” Yeojin sighed, “I have no idea what we’re going to end up doing, but whatever information you can get for us will probably be helpful.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” Taekwoon said quietly.

“Mingyu’s not.” Yeoreum bit back, “Neither is Johnny. Or Yooa. They don’t matter though.”

“Everyone lost someone.” Yeeun said patiently.

“Whatever,” Yeoreum rolled her eyes, “I don’t think you people have really thought your plan through.”

“What do you mean?” Ten narrowed his eyes, “And don’t piss on our plan too much, we got you out didn’t we?”

“You brought us to Circenses.” Yeoreum deadpanned, “Even if you hadn’t. This revolution plan doesn’t look like it’s gonna end well. Either you succeed and Circenses takes over Panem, or you fail and we all die.”

“Circenses does not want to take over Panem.” A new voice suddenly joined them. Joohyun startled so hard she hit her leg on the table. When she turned around she saw Yukika standing with the rest of the tributes and Jisoo.

“Why are they helping us then?” Yeoreum snapped. Without missing a beat Yukika smiled.

“Circenses could no longer stand for Panem’s death arenas. We have been quietly searching for a way to help the revolution for years.” She said sweetly. Before Yeoreum could say anything else Yukika turned to Joohyun, “I’m here to take you and Jisoo to the computer bank. Have you finished eating?”

“Yeah! Yeah I’m done,” Joohyun popped up. She was admittedly excited to be back in front of a computer.

“I’ll come find you later,” Donghyuck said with a yawn as he took her spot at the table.

“We both will.” Yeri added with a soft smile that Joohyun returned.

“Right,” Yukika smiled, “Come with me please.” She said as she led Joohyun and Jisoo out of the little cafeteria and back into the winding hallways. Eventually they came to an unmarked door that Yukika knocked on gently before immediately opening.

Inside was several monitors, laptops and desktops set up all the room. There was a mess of wired and wireless keyboards, a handful of bluetooth mice and a stray soundbar scattered across the tables around the room. Joohyun spotted several open and empty charging boxes for wireless headphones on the floor and tables. There was only one chair in the room though, and in that chair was a girl with long black hair put up in a high ponytail, with big wired headphones over her ears. Periodically she spoke softly into the microphone attached to her headphones as Joohyun tried to count up how many ethernet cables she could see in the room. Jisoo let out a low whistle as they both milled around the room, waiting awkwardly for the girl in the chair to acknowledge their presence. Yukika sighed loudly before unceremoniously pulling the girl’s headphones straight off her head.

“Fuck!” The girl screamed so loudly it made Joohyun jump. “Yukika!” The girl turned around and glared daggers, “You can’t just do that!”

“Yes I can,” Yukika smirked as the girl yanked the headphones back.

“Who the fuck are these people?” The girl asked irritatedly as she seemingly inspected the headphones for damage.

“Olivia, meet Joohyun and Jisoo, they’re our guests from Panem,” Yukika said softly, “And both of you, meet Olivia Hye. She’s the IT department here at the Station.”

“I’m the reason this Station hasn’t fallen to pieces,” Olivia boasted.

“This is also the only place we have computers in the Station,” Yukika winced, “Sorry it’s just… Circenses didn’t put the same resources into technology that Panem did.”

“We’ve got some bitchin movies and tv shows, just no actual tech.” Olivia shrugged, “What are you gonna do? Folks would rather have green screens than decent communication devices.”

“What’s a green screen?” Jisoo whispered quietly. Joohyun shrugged.

“Well Joohyun and Jisoo are our guests, I expect you to treat them with respect.” Yukika sighed, “Plus, it might be good to learn from them while they’re here.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Olivia waved Yukika off, “So what do you guys actually need? All I heard is you needed a computer.” Yukika quietly bowed her head before leaving the room.

“Ask Joohyun.” Jisoo shrugged as she pushed herself up to take a seat on one of the relatively clear tables. “She’s the one that was a tech genius back in 3.”

“I need…” Joohyun sighed, “Basically I need an emulator for a cellular phone. Or any mobile device.”

“I can see what I can find…” Olivia said uncertainty, “But what exactly is your plan here?’

“I put a bug on my workstation back at home so I could access it from my home,” Joohyun admitted awkwardly, “I was never worried about security because I assumed no one else would be able to access it. It needs to be a mobile device to access it, but basically it just gives you a mirrored version of what I could see on my workstation at home. We need to use a big computer though for what we’re going to try to get out of the network.”

“Damn,” Jisoo whistled, “Why did you put the bug in?”

“I liked to work after hours,” Joohyun shrugged, “What else are you going to do in 3?”

“That’s fair,” Jisoo shrugged. Olivia stood up and began to shuffle through a little stack of boxes in the corner that Joohyun had never noticed before. By the time Olivia finally turned around with a noise of triumph Joohyun had stolen her chair.

“You stole my chair.” Olivia pouted. Joohyun shrugged. “Fine. I found the program, hold on.” Oliva rifled around for a minute before eventually brushing a handful of cords to the side and plugging the little thumb drive into the back of a computer tower clear on the other side of the room from Joohyun. Yet, the monitor directly in front of Joohyun flickered to life and pulled up an emulated version of the cellular phones Joohyun was used to in Panem.

“Dude…” Joohyun whispered, “This is awesome.”

“We take in refugees from Panem sometimes,” Olivia said with a shrug as she sat unceremoniously on the floor, “I confiscated one of their devices and had a little fun.”

“You did an amazing job.” Jisoo said quietly. Joohyun put her hands to the keyboard when she noticed the bandage again.

“This might take a while, my hand is still recovering,” She said sheepishly as Jisoo and Olivia both brushed it off.

“I have a deck of cards?” Olivia suggested quietly as Joohyun got to work. Jisoo hummed in approval. 

-

Joohyun had no way of knowing how many hours had passed by the time she finally hit the universal command for print and sat back to crack her knuckles. Distantly she heard the familiar sounds of a printer humming to life and she let out a long breath as she stretched out her wrists and fingers.

“You done?” Olivia asked from behind her.

“For now,” Joohyun spun around in her chair, “Where did Jisoo go?”

“Got bored I assume,” Olivia shrugged, “Why are you printing something?”

“I figured it would be easier to have everyone look over the call logs than to just have me do it,” Joohyun yawned, “I could build a program to sort through the data but… I have better shit to do.” Olivia laughed.

“That’s fair just…” She bit her lip, “President Kim is weird about paper. Or anything that uses trees. Best not to be wasteful, you know?”

“You don’t recycle?” Joohyun furrowed her brow.

“What’s recycling?” Olivia cocked her head to the side. Joohyun had no idea what to say to that. Panem had it’s death arenas and genocidal tendencies but it also had a recycling system. Most of the goods in the Capitol were recycled or recyclable. The President of Panem always emphasized being self-sustaining, not taking more than they could from the land, being thrifty when possible. Joohyun always assumed it was a way to stop the Districts from producing enough food for every District. Like a fucked up form of population control. Somehow she always thought other places like Circenses would have even better conservation systems. Now she wasn’t so sure. 

“Nevermind,” Joohyun shrugged, “What time is it?”

“It’s almost dinner time, do you want to go to the cafeteria?” Olivia offered.

“Oh god yes,” Joohyun said just as her stomach growled. 

“Yeah okay let’s get you fed,” Olivia laughed as she led the way into the hallway. Joohyun followed gratefully.

When they got to the cafeteria area the only people Joohyun knew were Haseul, Donghyuck, Yeri, Mark and Yukika. Donghyuck immediately jumped up and herded Joohyun into the seat next to Yeri before running off to get Joohyun a tray of food.

“Joohyun,” Haseul hesitated, “I hate to ask because I know you must have worked all day long but… what did you manage?”

“I got into the date logs,” Joohyun shrugged, “I prioritized a specific watchlist. I- um.” She glanced towards Yeri before continuing, “I recognized one of the numbers on the list as a high tier member of District 3 so I pulled the data for that watchlist.”

“What do you mean?” Haseul furrowed her brow.

“Well,” Joohyun yawned before continuing, “Sorry- it’s just that.” She cracked her neck aggressively, “The Capitol keeps an eye on their assets. They have certain assets that are more important than others. I know this particular… asset… is important. So I figured we should follow the trail.”

“Capitol assets?” Donghyuck questioned as he returned with a tray for Joohyun. She nodded as she took a bite of food and glanced around.

“Where did Olivia go?” She asked quietly.

“Probably back to her little hideout,” Yukika scoffed just as Donghyuck gasped.

“You don’t mean Son Gain do you?” Donghyuck yelled as Mark tried to hush him. “There’s no fucking way!” A handful of Circenses citizens glanced their way but quickly went back to eating.

“Listen,” Joohyun sighed, “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated?” Yeri asked with an eyebrow raised.

“God it…” Joohyun winced, “It wasn’t ever very serious. I think she was just fooling around to try and get someone from the Capitol jealous. It worked, and we broke up. But I memorized her number, okay?”

“Fuck that!” Yeri gaped, “You’re amazing! How dare she just break up with you like that!”

“Yeri’s right, fuck Son Gain.” Donghyuck said sagely.

“I mean I agree.” Mark shrugged. All Joohyun could do was blush as she started to wolf down her food as quickly as possible. Haseul cleared her throat.

“Anyway…” She smiled, “We have data?” Joohyun nodded.

“It sounds like this Son Gain was pretty high up in the Capitol’s favor?” Mark asked diplomatically.

“Better yet, she was from the Capitol.” Donghyuck said conspiratorially, “Sent to District 3 to do ‘research’ whatever that means.”

“You think she was a Capitol operative?” Haseul gaped.

“No, I know she was a Capitol operative.” Donghyuck corrected, “And now we have all of her call data.”

“Plus the call data of everyone on the same watchlist.” Joohyun supplied as she shoveled more food into her mouth. She honestly hadn’t realized how hungry she was the entire day until that exact moment.

“I need to talk to Lip.” Haseul said quietly, “Do you think you can handle going through all that data yourself? How long until you have it sorted?”

“We’ll get through it mom,” Mark said gently, “Go get some rest. We’ll fill you in tomorrow?”

“Yeah! We got this.” Donghyuck said with a charming smile Joohyun was all too familiar with. Naturally Haseul completely melted.

“Right,” She said with a soft smile, “I’ll trust you to go through it. I’ll see you all tomorrow then.” Haseul smiled gently as she left them be.

“Do you think we can go through all the data tonight?” Mark winced as he glanced back and forth between Donghyuck and Joohyun. Joohyun sighed and looked down mournfully at her meal.

“Let’s go get Yeoreum and the rest of the tributes, that might make it faster?” Donghyuck suggested. Joohyun nodded as she kept shoveling food down her throat.

“You guys go do that, I’ll stay with Joohyun.” Yeri offered. A soft blush came over Joohyun’s cheeks when she realized that she was practically alone with Yeri for the first time in a long while. Yukika was sitting with them but she was staring down at her little communication device with a furrow in her brow. Just then Joohyun felt a soft hand slip into her own. She smiled and glanced down. Joohyun and Yeri’s hands fit well together. It was a nice feeling. 

-

Eventually Joohyun and Yeri made their way back to Joohyun’s bedroom and by then Olivia had seemingly dropped off all of the data Joohyun had printed.

“Finally!” Yeoreum groaned once they walked in the door, “I don’t know what all of these numbers are even supposed to mean!”

“I explained it to you like five times…” Donghyuck scowled.

“Are you guys already going through it?” Joohyun asked as she plopped down onto her bed next to him.

“Yep!” Mark confirmed, “We haven’t gotten through much, but we’ve gotten a head start.”

“I still don’t understand what we’re doing…” Jungwoo said softly while Jaehyun and Taeyong nodded in agreement.

“Don’t worry,” Joohyun smiled, “It’s super easy. Basically, you’re looking for patterns. That way you know if anything is weird.”

“What?” Yeoreum deadpanned.

“Basically, you need to establish the norm so you know when something is wrong.” Joohyun explained and picked up a small stack of papers connected with a binder clip. “For example this person… Shin Ryujin. I see the same number on here at least five times. It looks like she calls this number every Thursday or so. Now that I know that, I can look through the logs and see if there’s a Thursday when Ryujin doesn’t call this number. Plus, I can try to find information on who this number belongs too. I know now that Ryujin and whoever has this number talk a lot, so it’s fair to assume they’re relatively close or have some sort of connection. Does that make sense?”

“I guess…” Jungwoo shrugged.

“What exactly will that accomplish?” Yeoreum glowered.

“Hopefully we can figure out information about any Capitol operatives.” Joohyun shrugged, “We have their names for the most part, now we need to figure out what we can about them. They should all be pretty high up in the ranks, so the more we know about them the better.”

“Sure.” Yeoreum sighed loudly and continued to highlight pages as she scanned through the lists of data. Joohyun shook her head softly but, decided there really wasn’t much she could do about the situation so she resigned herself to looking over the data in her hands. 

Joohyun wasn’t sure how long they sat in silence before finally Jungwoo tugged lightly on her sleeve.

“I think I have something…” He nearly whispered, “This is Jea, she’s from District 11. About a couple days ago she started calling the same number every day for hours.” He gently handed the paperwork over to Joohyun who balked.

“Who has Gain’s data?” She asked harshly. Taeyong slowly raised his hand. “Okay. Go to about a couple days ago and check if there’s any new numbers that she had long phone calls with.” Taeyong paused and flipped through his pages before finally he came to a stop.

“There’s a couple numbers… hold on,” First he listed off the number for Jea printed at the top of Jungwoo’s data, but then he listed off another number. 

“Does anyone have that cellular phone number?” She asked cutting him off. There was a moment of quiet paper shuffling before Donghyuck finally raised his hand.

“That’s the number for Park Narsha, from District 9.” He said quietly. Mark’s head snapped up immediately.

“Park Narsha?” He asked abruptly, snatching the papers from Donghyuck’s hands, “Are you completely sure?”

“I mean I’m pretty sure…” Donghyuck trailed off.

“She’s not from District 9.” Mark said with a shake of his head, “She’s from District 11. Narsha won the Hunger Games when my mom was a kid. Last we heard she moved to the Capitol. What was she doing in District 9?” 

“Did she have any new numbers she called in the past few days?” Joohyun asked carefully. Mark bit his lip as he scanned through the data with Donghyuck leaning over his shoulder.

“There’s a couple, one of them is Gain, another is Narsha but…” Donghyuck read aloud the last number.

“I have that one!” Jaehyun said excitedly, “It’s for Jo Miryo, District 5!”

“J-Jo Miryo?” Joohyun stuttered, staring at Jaehyun with her mouth wide open.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” Donghyuck swore under his breath.

“Did I do something wrong?” Jaehyun’s brow crinkled.

“No! No, you didn’t.” Joohyun shook her head, “It’s just that… she’s not from District 5. She’s from 3. 

“I know the name…” Donghyuck trailed off, “She won when I was a baby.”

“Yep. It was a long time ago. Even I barely remember it, but I know that she won and moved to the Capitol immediately.” Joohyun trailed off.

“Well what the fuck then?” Yeoreum suddenly burst out, “What’s with these chicks just deciding to move to the Capitol then ending up in random ass Districts?”

“Maybe it’s not random…” Jungwoo supplied, “We’ve covered... what? Districts 5, 3, 9 and 11.” Joohyun swore quietly.

“There’s no way…” Donghyuck trailed off.

“They probably had the same thoughts we had…” Mark supplied.

“We have to check.” Yeri said, standing up, “We have to be sure. We have people from every District here, we need to ask them directly.”

“I’ll go check with Jaemin,” Joohyun suggested, “Someone else can go check with Jinsoul?”

“I’ll come with you!” Yeri immediately volunteered.

“We can go check with Jinsoul.” Mark said, quickly grabbing Donghyuck’s hand in his. It

was sweet Joohyun thought.

“We’ll stay here and keep going through these,” Yeoreum offered, tone suddenly serious, “See if we can find any more information.”

“Alright…” Yeri sighed, “I’m willing to bet that Jinsoul is in the conference room with Lip and Haseul, but Jaemin is more likely to be in his room.”

“With Jeno?” Mark asked.

“I assume so,” She shrugged, “We’ll head that way and try to find out. If Jinsoul is with Haseul then get them all up to speed.”

“Maybe we could relocate Yeoreum and the others to the conference room too,” Joohyun suggested, “More eyes on the data can only help us at this point.”

“You got it,” Donghyuck said cheerily, “We’ll meet you there when we’re done!”

“Alright,” Joohyun smiled, “Do you know where their room is?”

“Ah yeah, all of the mentors have their rooms in the same hall.” Yeri said before taking Joohyun’s hand and gently leading her.

“How have you managed to figure out these hallways?” Joohyun shook her head, “I still get so lost every time.”

“Well I had to spend a lot of time in the woods back at home, so I just got good at memorizing my path.” Yeri said with a straight face. Joohyun blinked at her, unimpressed. “Okay so I admit that’s bullshit but I have no idea.” They both giggled as they continued down the hallway until they got to a door with the names Na Jaemin and Lee Jeno written with neat and simple handwriting. 

When Joohyun knocked there was a quiet shuffling sound on the other side of the door. It was silent for a little while until they heard the soft click of the door unlocking. Soft brown eyes peered out at them from the little crack in the door as it opened. Lee Jeno burst into a smile then and pulled the door open wider.

“It’s Joohyun and Yeri!” He called over his shoulder, presumably to Jaemin. He was wearing a soft looking long sleeve shirt and sweat pants, complete with glasses. Joohyun thought he was completely adorable.

“Can we come in?” Joohyun cocked her head to the side, “We need to ask Jaemin something important. Jeno paused and glanced back over his shoulder, but he must have gotten the answer he needed because he opened the door just wide enough to let the two of them in before he locked it shut again. 

The room was the exact same layout as Joohyun’s but the bed was rumpled up. All of the blankets and some spare clothes had been gathered into the bed to create a cozy little spot that Jeno crawled back into the second he got the chance. Jaemin smiled weakly from where he sat in his makeshift nest. Joohyun took a seat on the armchair and Yeri leaned against the arm. They probably had the same idea- Jaemin needed a safe space for himself and his husband. It was best not to disturb that.

“You needed to talk to me?” Jaemin asked quietly, not quite able to make eye contact with them.

“Yeah…” Joohyun trailed off, “Do you know someone named Narsha?”

“Sort of,” He shrugged, “She was in District 9, doing research on something for the Capitol. I moved to the Capitol right after…” Jeno rubbed his back soothingly.

“How about Jea?” Yeri tried, but Jaemin just shook his head.

“Son Gain?” Joohyun tried. The second the words left her mouth Jaemin’s head snapped up and he stared her directly in the eyes.

“G-Gain noona?” The way his voice cracked broke Joohyun’s heart. “She was supposed to be my mentor. But she was gone when I got back.” Tears started to well up in his eyes, “They said she moved to the Capitol but she wasn’t there.”

“She was in District 3,” Joohyun said gently, “Doing research apparently.”

“Did she ever talk about me?” Jaemin asked quietly and stared at her intently. Joohyun

bit her lip harshly but shook her head no. 

“I never even knew she had been in the Games.” She sighed, “I’m sorry.” It wasn’t much, but it was all she could really offer.

“We think Gain, Narsha and a couple of other victors have been in the Districts doing

something for the Capitol.” Yeri added uncertainly.

“Have you told Haseul?” Jeno asked as he gently rubbed his husband’s back.

“Yeah, the others are with Haseul now trying to figure it out.” Yeri said with a soft smile. Jeno paused and glanced towards his husband.

“I think we’d like to help if we can.” He said as he watched his husband’s face. Jaemin

nodded though. 

“Let me put on normal clothes.” Jaemin mumbled softly.

“Of course.” Joohyun nodded, “The rest of us will all be in the conference room, okay?”

“We’ll be there soon.” Jeno confirmed.

Yeri and Joohyun took their leave then. They held hands the entire way back towards the conference room. They only let go when they finally entered the room. It was set up in a similar way to how it was last time, the only difference was the stacks of papers spread across the table. It looked like Mark and Donghyuck had gathered everyone and Yeoreum brought the data so they could all look over it together.

“Hey,” Haseul greeted as they sat down at the table, “I take it you talked to Jaemin and Jeno?”

“Jaemin knew Gain.” Joohyun winced.

“I knew Jea,” Jinsoul supplied from a couple of seats away, “She was one of the victors

in our District.” 

“So they had her doing ‘research’ in 11.” Haseul sighed, “We kind of thought she was a Capitol operative, but we had no idea she was a victor.”

“It makes them more dangerous.” Yeojin shook her head, “I don’t like this.”

“So basically the Capitol recruited previous victors and sent them to different Districts… for what?” Chuu scowled.

“To spy?” Lip suggested.

“Maybe they realized they can’t bomb those Districts just like we did?” Jeno asked from

the doorway. Jaemin lingered just a step behind him.

“I’m so glad you guys are here,” Haseul smiled gently, “Come sit down.” Donghyuck

immediately went and pulled up another set of chairs so they could sit next to each other and Jaemin thanked him quietly.

“So we figured out their grand plan,” Yeoreum scowled, “Now what?”

“Well, it’s a good thing we figured it out,” Yeeun hit her arm lightly, “Better that we figured this out now than after we already had people in those Districts.”

“I still think our best bet is to go after those Districts.” Ten crossed his arms over his chest, “It’ll be harder with these girls there, but we won’t have to worry about being bombed.”

“They’re deadly.” Jaemin said quietly, “At least Gain was. She was scary in her Games.”

“So was Miryo,” Joohyun shuddered. “I assume Jea and Narsha were the same?”

“Yep,” Haseul confirmed, “They’re not an insignificant problem.”

“So what exactly is the plan here?” Xiaojun asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What if we split up?” Seulgi asked with a wince, “There’s not many of us but we could split off into different teams with the victors from each District we want to target.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Yeri supplied, “That way if one group is stopped they don’t have information to give up on what the other groups are doing.”

“We pick a day and then… raise hell I guess in each District.” Yves shrugged.

“It sounds desperate.” Yeeun said.

“Well we kind of are desperate.” Haseul sighed, “When we got you guys out of the Arena we blew our cover.”

“We don’t know how long Circenses can keep us all safe.” Kim Lip said quietly, “It might be in our best interest to strike sooner than later.”

“Okay but what if this doesn’t work.” Yeoreum scowled, “What then?” There was a long moment of silence. Haseul stared down at her lap until Mark gently reached over and tapped her shoulder.

“Mom?” He asked quietly and Haseul offered a watery smile.

“Honestly… we’re running out of options.” Haseul said and met Yeoreum’s eyes, “Circenses isn’t willing to launch a full on attack on Panem. They’ll help an internal revolution but they don’t want an all out war.”

“Am I the only one who thinks that’s suspicious?” Yeoreum asked. “Come on. We can’t trust these people.”

“What do you suggest then?” Joohyun asked with a sigh.

“I don’t like it either.” Ten said quietly, “There isn’t much else we can do though.”

“We have to do something.” Yeeun said with a sigh, “We… The other victors and I at least… we can’t keep doing this.”

“I know you wanted to win the games and then live your life,” Xiaojun ran a hand through his hair, “But that doesn’t work. What do you think Yeeun and I tried to do?”

“We can’t be safe under the Capitol.” Ten explained. Yeoreum for her part was staring down at her lap with a grimace on her face. “We can’t. There never would have been a life for you to live, even if you won.” There was a long beat of silence.

“So this is the only way?” Yeoreum asked quietly. Ten sighed loudly. 

“Do you think we would be doing this if we hadn’t tried everything else already?” He said quietly. Yeoreum groaned loudly and set her forehead down onto the table in front of her.

“Fucking fine okay!” She yelled from that position, “If this is what I need to do to get on with my miserable life then so fucking be it.” Haseul nodded slowly.

“I guess that’s that then.” She said quietly. “Yeojin, Jinsoul, Jaemin, you three and I will have to form our teams. We lead the teams for our own Districts. Lip will be in charge in my absence. Tonight we select our teams, tomorrow we plan.”

“I want Joohyun.” Jaemin piped up immediately.

“I- okay.” Joohyun swallowed harshly, “I can do that.” She had never been to District 9 in her entire life but… if Jaemin felt that strongly about it. Honestly Joohyun assumed she would be stuck at the Station with Jungkook behind a computer screen the entire time.

“I’m going with Joohyun.” Donghyuck piped up immediately.

“That’s fine,” Jaemin said quietly, leaning into his husband’s arm.

“I’m coming too.” Yeoreum piped up, her head still laid on the table. Jaemin simply nodded. Just then Joohyun let out a yawn she had been holding in for several hours.

“You can leave and go to bed,” Haseul said kindly, “We can come to get you in the morning.”

“Thank you…” Joohyun smiled sheepishly.

“I’ll take her back that way!” Donghyuck immediately volunteered. Not for the first time Joohyun realized she would truly be lost without him. She didn’t even really realize how tired she was until Donghyuck was herding her back towards her bedroom. Donghyuck hesitated when they arrived at her door and so she simply held the door open for him to come in with her.

“What’s going on?” Joohyun said with a slight yawn as she sat down on her bed.

“It’s really dumb.” Donghyuck whined.

“Well so be it, tell me anyway.” Joohyun rolled her eyes which earned a little giggle from him.

“It’s just…” Donghyuck bit his lip, “Okay I recognize that we’re in the middle of trying to overthrow a corrupt government and now is definitely not the time, so don’t say anything about that.”

“Hyuck,” Joohyun laughed, “You’re fine. I’m the last person to judge you. Just tell me what’s up.”

“I just really like Mark.” He squeezed his eyes shut like he was expecting some sort of explosive reaction. Joohyun blinked. Once. Twice. Donghyuck started to carefully open his eyes again. Joohyun couldn’t help it. She started to giggle. Donghyuck playfully hit her once which just made her crack up even harder. Eventually they were both having a fit of giggling in her bed that took them what felt like forever to calm down from.

“Is that really it?” Joohyun teased, “You were so nervous to tell me that?”

“It just seems dumb!” Donghyuck giggled, “We’re like on the brink of maybe dying!”

“That isn’t exactly new!” Joohyun laughed with her entire body at that. “What did you think we were doing back in the Arena? Or in District 3 before that?”

“You know what I mean!” He whined loudly.

“Hyuck.” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, “You’re totally fine. You should ask him out if anything.”

“I can’t do that!” He hit her arm again, “We’re trying to revolt not go on a fucking date!”

“Well I mean afterwards.” She grinned, “When things are okay again. Ask him on a date.”

“Do you…” Donghyuck sighed, “Do you think things will ever be okay again?”

“I mean…” Joohyun winced, “I’ll be honest I have no idea.” Donghyuck picked at his nails, “It’s just… I have to hope they will be, you know? Otherwise there’s no point.”

“I guess you’re right,” Donghyuck shrugged, “I just… as lame as it sounds I just want to be able to go on a date with Mark. I want to be able to get through my day without the Capitol looming over my shoulder.”

“That’s all I want too,” Joohyun offered, “I mean… on a larger level I can think of things that would be good for society and all of that but… more than anything I just want to be able to have a day. That’s all I really want. I think this is the only way to get that.” They both went silent for a long moment.

“When all of this is over, I’ll ask Mark out but only if you ask Yeri out.” Donghyuck smirked. Joohyun slapped his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> data security is a serious issue... the patriot act lets the united states government run surveillance on it's people to a truly horrifying extent... so like, maybe be careful about that!
> 
> anyway you can find me on twitter @babysharkmp3!!

**Author's Note:**

> yes this is a kpop hunger games au, yes it's 2020. cringe culture is dead and i killed it.
> 
> find me on twitter [@babysharkmp3](http://twitter.com/babysharkmp3)


End file.
